


Read between the Lines

by wayward_stranger



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Dramaaaaa, Fluff, Iwaizumi as Romeo, Iwaizumi's parents are homophobic, Love Triangle, M/M, Oikawa as Juliet, iwaoi - Freeform, lines from Romeo and Juliet, little iwaizumi, little oikawa, lotsa minor characters, oikawa and iwaizumi as kids, slight KyouHaba, slight MatsuHana, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-07-16 10:00:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 62,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7263442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wayward_stranger/pseuds/wayward_stranger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You know, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa whispered, turning around in his seat. Hajime narrowed his eyes at him. Oikawa had a sneaky look on his face, the same look he usually wore whenever he was about to do one of his powerful serves. “I think you’d make a pretty good Romeo,” he said.</p>
<p>The Cultural Festival is coming up soon and Hajime's class decides to perform Romeo and Juliet. However, Hajime's plans of staying in the background and painting sets are destroyed once he's chosen to play Romeo. And to make matters worse, that idiot Oikawa who pulled him into that mess has been cast as Juliet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for clicking on this fic amidst so many other good fics around you... This was originally supposed to just be a one-shot but then the ideas all piled up and now it's a full-blown fic that I hope you guys are enjoying. 
> 
> The italicized sections are backstories of Iwaizumi and Oikawa as kids because I just love imagining them as kids. I might be a bit OOC when it comes to Matsukawa and Hanamaki's parts since I'm not too familiar with their characters but I'll try my best.

“Hajime! Tooru’s here!” Hajime’s mother called from downstairs.

“About damn time,” he muttered to himself before picking up his schoolbag from the foot of his bed and heading downstairs. “Coming!” he called. Oikawa was already waiting by the door and chatting comfortably with his mother. When he saw Hajime come down, he looked up and greeted him with his usual smile.

“Morning, Iwa-chan!” he grinned.

“You’re late, Oikawa,” Hajime growled as he put on his shoes.

“Mean Iwa-chan! I’m trying to be friendly here!”

“We’re going now. See you Mom,” Hajime said, ignoring Oikawa.

“Bye Auntie!” Oikawa added, waving behind him.

“Bye you two,” his mother smiled before closing the door behind them.

“We’d better hurry to school now since you came in late,” Hajime said, walking with a faster pace.

“Sorry, Iwa-chan. I was up late studying,” Oikawa apologized, easily catching up to his friend’s pace. ‘Liar,’ Hajime thought. Oikawa rarely ever studied for a test because he didn’t need to, to Hajime’s frustration, and the only test they had that week was on a Friday. What’s more, their match against Karasuno was just yesterday and the feeling of defeat was still quite fresh in their heads. Hajime knew that he would be feeling bitter about it for a few days. But their loss as a team probably hit Oikawa the hardest, especially since it was him who wanted to defeat Kageyama Tobio and because they lost their last chance to go against Shiratorizawa.

Right now, Oikawa looked like the picture of happiness as he hummed while walking beside Hajime. But he knew better. He and Oikawa have been friends since they were in grade school and he knew his friend like the back of his hand. ‘He’s definitely not over it yet,’ he thought as he walked beside him. ‘Definitely not.’

“Hey idiot, you didn’t answer the texts I sent you yesterday,” Hajime said under his breath as he stared down at the sidewalk.

“Oh right, I didn’t realize that my phone was off the entire day and when I checked it, it was already really late,” Oikawa chuckled. “Why, were you worried about me, Iwa-chan?” he smiled, setting his chin on Hajime’s shoulder.

“Why the hell would I be worried about you?” Hajime said, roughly pushing Oikawa’s face away with his hand.

“Iwa-chan! I just washed my face earlier! Don’t soil it with your hands!” Oikawa whined in protest. Hajime huffed and lowered his hand.

“Whatever,” he said, gripping the strap of his bag tightly. “If we walk faster we’ll probably make it to school ten minutes before homeroom.”

“Right, I’ll have time to check on my fan mail before class starts,” Oikawa smiled. “I think Mayumi-chan baked some cookies for me too.”

“I hope you choke on them…” Hajime said under his breath as the two hurried to school.

…

“Oi Iwa! Where’s Oikawa?” Hanamaki asked as soon as Hajime sat down at his desk.

“Where else?” Iwaizumi snorted.

“Ah right, reading his fan mail,” Hanamaki rolled his eyes and sat down at the desk in front of Hajime which was supposed to be Oikawa’s desk. Matsukawa joined them, sitting at the desk beside Hanamaki.

“Probably sympathy mail from yesterday,” he sighed, resting his chin in his hands. “Why don’t _we_ get sympathy mail too? We’re part of the team too.”

“Well you don’t look like much of a model, Matsukawa,” Hanamaki teased. “Hey Iwa! Are you up for another match?” he asked, flexing his right arm at Hajime to show off his muscles.

“Are you kidding me? I can barely move my body after that match we had yesterday,” Hajime cringed. Once he came home yesterday he instantly prepared a hot bath and took a long soak to ease his muscles. After texting Oikawa a few times, of course.

‘He was probably sulking yesterday,’ Hajime thought as he looked out the window, tuning out Hanamaki and Matsukawa’s conversation. He knew perfectly well just how frustrated Oikawa got whenever they lost against Shiratorizawa so Hajime made it a habit to text him after a match or go to his house. Oikawa always complied whenever that happened and it bothered Hajime a lot that he chose to remain distant this time.

“Morning, Makki, Mattsun,” Oikawa greeted as he came into the classroom and walked towards his desk where Hanamaki still sat. He was carrying a small bag full of heart-shaped cookies with him that Hajime assumed came from his locker.

“Cookies? How do you even get those?” Hanamaki moaned as he left Oikawa’s desk.

“You can try looking like a model,” Matsukawa said under his breath but loud enough for all of them to hear.

“Apparently not. Guess who else got some fan mail today?” Oikawa said, leaning in closer to them with a sneaky smile on his face.

“Who?” Hajime asked, perking up with interest.

“Kyo. Ken. Chan,” Oikawa answered, enunciating every syllable of their team member’s nickname.

“What?” Matsukawa, placed both hands on his desk as his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“How did _Kyotani_ of all people get fan mail? Doesn’t he scare away ninety-percent of all the people in this school?” Hanamaki groaned and let his head fall on his desk. “The Universe is screwed up…” he mumbled.

“Right?” Oikawa nodded in agreement. “But I think that was the first time Kyoken-chan received fan mail. You should’ve seen the look on his face when saw the envelope and his face turned bright red once he read what was inside.” Hajime snickered at his story as he tried to imagine what he just described.

“Do you know who sent the letter?” he asked Oikawa.

“No idea,” he shrugged. “But that girl sure has some weird taste. Kyoken-chan just crammed the letter into his bag and left right after reading it.”

“No doubt he’ll be running to you, _Iwaizumi-senpai,_ ” Matsukawa teased.

“As if I know how to deal with those kinds of things,” Hajime snorted.

“That means he’ll come running to me!” Oikawa exclaimed, eyes widening with realization. “Then it will be _my_ turn to impress him as a senpai,” he smiled.

“Nah, he’ll probably go to Yahaba,” Hanamaki deadpanned.

“Ha? Why Shigeru-chan?” Oikawa pouted.

“Well he gets some fan mail too,” Matsukawa shrugged.

“And he’d probably talk to him rather than you,” Hajime added.

“I’d probably do the same if I was in Kyotani’s place too,” Hanamaki nodded.

“You guys are all mean!” Oikawa stuck his tongue out. “Now I won’t share my cookies with any of you.”

“As if we’d want to,” the three of them chorused in unison. Oikawa opened his mouth to say something when suddenly the bell for homeroom rang and the class settled down in their seats. Their teacher walked up to his desk at the front of the room and after a few of the morning formalities ended, along with a congratulations to the volleyball team for their strong effort yesterday, the class representatives came up to the front of the room.

“Well, as you all know, the cultural festival is coming up soon,” said their male class representative, Nakamura Daiki. He had a tall, thin frame, green hair that was always combed down neatly, and glasses with thin, black frames. Hajime knew him since middle school but they only remained simple friends. The female class representative, Shirokawa Ai stood beside him. She was much shorter than Nakamura with wild red hair, green eyes. Hajime knew her but never noticed her that much either.

“And based on the lottery we drew last week, our class will be performing a play. Namely, Romeo and Juliet, based on popular vote,” Shirokawa announced. Most of the girls in the classroom giggled at the mention of the play’s name.

“The festival is in two months. Two months may seem to be a lot of time to prepare for a play but it’s still better to prepare in advance…” Hajime felt himself zone out as Nakamura started talking on and on about the importance of being prepared. Oikawa seemed to be bored as well judging by the way he was staring out the window beside him. Both of them tuned back in once Nakamura announced that they’d begin the casting people for roles in the play. Shirokawa began making a list on the board of the characters in the play.

“Alright, we’ll do this by election,” Nakamura said, placing his hands on the desk in front of him. “After some names are nominated, you can either nominate yourself or nominate another person, we will all decide who’ll play the part by voting.”

“Hey, Iwa-chan…” Oikawa turned around and whispered at him. “Who do you hope to get?”

“I don’t know, maybe I’ll just paint the set or something,” Hajime shrugged indifferently.

“That’s no fun, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa pouted. “You should at least try to get a role or something.”

“As if,” Hajime snorted.

“So, first things first,” Shirokawa said. “Who would like to be Romeo?” A bunch of girls raised their hands up and Hajime instantly guessed that they were all going to nominate Oikawa.

“U-um, I’d like to nominate Oikawa-san,” said one of the girls when Shirokawa called her. ‘Bingo,’ Hajime said to himself.

“Alright, anyone else?” Nakamura asked as Shirokawa wrote down Oikawa’s name on the board.

“You know, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa whispered, turning around in his seat. Hajime narrowed his eyes at him. Oikawa had a sneaky look on his face, the same look he usually wore whenever he was about to do one of his powerful serves. “I think you’d make a pretty good Romeo,” he said.

“What?” Hajime’s eyes widened in disbelief as his hand made a grab for Oikawa’s shirt collar. His friend smirked at him and he resisted the urge to throw him out the window.

“Um, is something wrong there? Iwaizumi-san?” Nakamura asked looking over at the two of them.

“Don’t. You. Dare,” Hajime hissed.

“I nominate Iwaizumi Hajime for Romeo!” Oikawa said as quickly and loudly as he could right before Hajime could cover his big mouth.

“Iwaizumi Hajime, huh?” Nakamura echoed, looking over at Shirokawa who looked quite stunned as she held a piece of chalk in her fingers. “Well, it is a nomination,” he shrugged. “Write it down please, Shirokawa.”

“H-hold on!” Iwaizumi protested, standing up in his seat. “Can’t I back out of this?” he asked, looking at Nakamura pleadingly.

“Sorry, but once the class elects you to do the role, you’ll just have to follow along with it,” Nakamura answered, adjusting the glasses on his face. Hajime felt his eyebrows twitch when he saw a hint of a smile on the class representative’s face.

‘It’s okay, I’m up against Trashykawa for the role. There’s no way they’d pick me over him,’ Hajime sat back down, forcing himself to remain calm. However, his classmates didn’t seem to think so.

“Well, he might make a good Romeo too.”

“Yeah, I mean there are fight scenes in the play right? He’d probably do well in those.”

“You’re right, better than Oikawa probably.”

“But Oikawa-san’s more… princely.”

“So? I bet Iwaizumi has this hidden talent for acting that he hasn’t shown anyone.”

‘Shit,’ Hajime mentally cursed as he heard murmurs of conversation being exchanged between his classmates. ‘I might actually get this role…’ He glared at Oikawa who was grinning cheekily at him. Hajime felt a vein in his forehead pulse. ‘I’m going to beat him up after this…’ he thought.

“Well if Iwaizumi’s going to be Romeo then I nominate Oikawa as Juliet,” Hanamaki said, standing up. Matsukawa grinned and stood up as well.

“I second the nomination,” he said. Hajime glared daggers at them as his ‘List of People to Kill’ grew steadily. Both Nakamura and Shirokawa looked stunned at the sudden nomination and the murmurs of the students grew louder. Oikawa looked pretty surprised as well but he made no move to protest against it.

“Well, I guess we should add that too. Shirokawa?” Nakamura said.

“Y-yeah,” she nodded and started to write down Oikawa’s name on the board.

“Wait! Isn’t it against the rules or something for Oikawa to be nominated for both roles? And he’s a _guy_ too. Shouldn’t Juliet be a girl or something?” Hajime protested.

“Like I said, Iwaizumi-san. The outcome will be decided through votes,” Nakamura answered patiently. “Also, it isn’t against the rules for Juliet to be cast by a male as well. In fact, it might even prove to be quite… interesting,” he added, smirking slightly as he looked at him. ‘Crap, he’s in on this, isn’t he?’ Hajime thought.

“Does anyone else want to make a nomination for Juliet?” Shirokawa asked.

“I nominate Kaori-chan!” one of the girls cried, raising her hand in the air.

“M-mitsuki! I told you not to!” her friend beside her protested. A few of the guys, including Hajime’s, turned towards her direction. Natsumi Kaori was probably the prettiest girl in their class, according to most of the male students there. She was half-Caucasian and her long, blonde hair and blue eyes were definitely an attraction among the guys there. Even Hajime admitted that she was pretty but he didn’t know her pretty well either. ‘She’d probably make a nice Juliet though,’ he thought.

“Alright then,” Shirokawa said, writing down her name on the board beside Oikawa’s.

“We shall now begin the voting for Romeo and Juliet’s characters. Those who didn’t get the part will become understudies for the roles,” Nakamura announced. ‘Please be Oikawa and Natsumi. Please…’ Hajime prayed as he cast in his vote for the two of them. However, his votes proved to be useless when a large percentage of the class, including Nakamura and Shirokawa, voted for Iwaizumi and Oikawa to be cast as Romeo and Juliet.

“Now, that’s done. Congratulations for getting the roles, Oikawa-san, Iwaizumi-san,” Nakamura clapped and the rest of the class followed suit. Hajime laid his head on top of his desk and covered himself with his arms.

“Iwaizumi-san? Is everything alright?” he heard Shirokawa ask.

“I think he’s dead,” Oikawa piped up. Hajime instantly sprang up and grabbed his shirt collar.

“Who’s fault do you think it is?” he yelled.

“Iwa-chan! Stop! Romeo isn’t supposed to kill Juliet in the play!” Oikawa said, holding his hands up to his face as he laughed slightly.

“This isn’t funny, Shittykawa!”

…

_“Alright everyone. We’re going down the bus now and into the exhibit. Do you all remember the rules teacher told you about?” their teacher, Miss Yuriko, asked in a sweet voice as she stood at the front of the bus._

_“Yes teacher!” chorused the various first graders in the bus. Hajime had his cheek pressed against the window of the bus as he stared excitedly at the huge building they were about to enter. It was his first field trip and the class was going to a reptile house. Hajime didn’t care much for reptiles, what he was really excited about was the insect exhibit._

_“Okay, now it’s time to go down the bus. Line up properly once you get down please,” their teacher said before leading the children out of the bus. Hajime grinned and picked up his dark blue backpack before heading out of the bus and falling in line. His feet bobbed up and down in excitement as he waited in line. He was wearing his favorite t-shirt today which was black with a bright green beetle printed on it along with dark brown shorts._

_“Is everyone here?” Miss Yuriko asked as she counted the number of children there._

_“Yes, teacher,” they all chorused._

_“Good,” she smiled brightly and clasped her hands together. “Now before we go in, I want you all to partner up and find a buddy. Once we’re in the reptile house, I want you to be with your buddy at all times. This is to make sure that we don’t get lost, alright? Will you all do that for me?”_

_“Yes, teacher,” the students said enthusiastically as they went around to find a buddy. Hajime gripped the strap of his backpack and looked down at his blue and white striped sneakers while everyone else began to form pairs. Even after spending a few months in school, he still hadn’t made that many friends and the friends that he did have already had their own partners._

_“Hajime-chan? Do you not have a partner?” their teacher asked as she walked towards him._

_“No, I don’t think so,” Hajime looked around and shook his head. “But it’s fine. I can be on my own,” he said, grinning at his teacher._

_“There must be a partner for you. We are an even number after all.” Miss Yuriko looked around and finally spotted someone among the crowd of kids. “Hold on, Hajime-chan. I think I found someone for you.” Hajime watched curiously as she walked towards a kid who appeared to not have a partner either. After talking to him, she took his hand and walked back to Hajime._

_“Hajime-chan, this is Tooru-chan. He doesn’t have a partner either so will you please be his buddy?” Miss Sakura asked as she knelt in front of the two of them. Hajime looked at the boy she had with her. ‘He’s the new transfer kid,’ he thought. ‘No wonder he doesn’t have a buddy.’ The boy had just transferred into their school a week ago and he usually kept to himself so Haijme didn’t know that much about him. He was shorter than him, with messy brown hair and large black glasses. He was wearing a white and green-striped t-shirt that looked too big on him and dark blue shorts._

_“N-nice to meet you. I’m Oikawa…” he said, reaching out a hand shyly. One of his front teeth was missing and air whistled through the gap whenever he spoke._

_“Hi, I’m Iwaizumi,” Hajime introduced, shaking Oikawa’s hand. ‘He’s kinda wimpy-looking,’ he thought but kept his mouth shut._

_“Good, now will you two take care of each other for me?” Miss Sakura asked, smiling at the two of them._

_“Yes teacher,” they both nodded._

_“Great, you can always talk to teacher if you need anything else,” she said before standing up and making her way to the front of the line again. “Okay everyone, now that we’re all partnered up we can go inside now. Remember, no pushing or shoving here, okay?” Miss Sakura then began to walk inside the building with the rest of the student following behind her. Hajime gripped the straps of his bag tightly, trying to contain his excitement as they walked inside._

...

“God, I’m ruined. I’m going to kill that bastard for this,” Hajime growled as he banged his head on the table again and again.

“Oi Iwa! You’ll crack your head open and spill out what’s left of your brain if you keep on doing that,” Hanamaki teased as he slid into a seat next to him on the lunch table.

“Maybe I should just kill you first,” Hajime growled in response.

“You guys better hurry. The yakisoba bread is going to run out,” Matsukawa reminded them as he passed their table on the way to the lunch line.

“Thanks for getting some for me then,” Hajime called after him.

“Yeah! Me too!” Hanamaki added. Matsukawa rolled his eyes at them but the two knew very well that he was going to buy for them anyway. “Listen Iwaizumi,” Hanamaki said, turning to him. “I know you want to punish me and everything, but did you really have to nominate me to become that priest guy?” he asked. Hajime’s lips curled up in a smile. He had nominated Hanamaki to cast as Friar Lauren or whatever he was called in the play as a kind of revenge for what he had done. It had definitely paid off when the entire class voted for him to be one. Shirokawa’s comment on him needing to wear a bald cap for the play made the revenge seem even sweeter.

But it still didn’t erase the fact that Hajime was going to play Romeo and that Oikawa was playing Juliet of all people. Hajime felt tempted to stab a pencil through his eyes. ‘Or I can ask Kyotani to assassinate Oikawa or something,’ he thought. The boy would definitely follow what he asked him to, and he seemed more than happy to oblige.

“What’s with that murderous look on your face?” Matsukawa asked with a raised eyebrow as he took the seat in front of Hajime. He tossed wrapped yakisoba breads towards him and Hanamaki.

“Doesn’t his face always look murderous?” Oikawa butted in, taking the seat beside Matsukawa in front of Hanamaki. A smart choice, considering Hajime’s desire to slam his face down on the table.

“Yeah but it looks especially murderous now…” Hanamaki said as he unwrapped his sandwich.

“Don’t tell me you’re thinking about using Kyotani to murder Oikawa,” Matsukawa guessed.

“W-what?!” Oikawa bristled.

“Give the guy a prize,” Hajime grumbled as a small smile came up on his face. Matsukawa had a hidden talent of guessing what Hajime was thinking, most of the time anyway.

“Mean Iwa-chan! Mean!” Oikawa yelled. “Why would you use Kyoken-chan of all people to murder me?”

“Because he’ll follow me and make sure your death is completely miserable and pathetic,” Hajime said nonchalantly as he unwrapped his sandwich. “And because he’ll take care of the body well.”

“You’ll probably do a better job of taking care of my body,” Oikawa grinned, batting his eyelashes at Hajime who choked on his sandwich. Hanamaki thumped his back and offered some water while Matsukawa made fake vomiting voices.

“Geez Oikawa, not while we’re eating,” he said.

‘I’m definitely going to hire Kyotani to kill him,’ Hajime thought as he glared daggers at Oikawa.

“By the way, aren’t you having lunch?” Hanamaki asked.

“I’m too full from all the cookies Mayumi-chan gave me,” Oikawa grinned.

“You ate all of them?” Matsukawa asked incredulously.

“Of course I did. She said she stayed up late to bake them for me so it would be rude not to finish it,” Oikawa said. Most people thought of Oikawa as a playboy for the way he acted around girls whenever they flocked around him, but Hajime knew that he never played around with their feelings. His overly politeness and the way he complimented them could be mistaken for flirting but that was just how he was around girls. And Hajime also knew that Oikawa actually took the time to answer the fan mail that girls sent him and even eat the treats they gave him no matter how much he moaned about all the calories it had.

“Well, make sure that you do eat lunch after,” Hajime reminded him.

“Yes Iwa-chan, I will,” Oikawa nodded. Suddenly, he looked up and smiled. “Well, here he comes. Just like I thought…” Hajime frowned and turn around to see Kyotani walking towards him, clutching a pink envelope in his hand and looking quite embarrassed.

“So he really is going to ask you for advice,” Hanamaki said, nudging Hajime with his shoulder.

“Shit, I know,” he cursed under his breath as Kyotani came in nearer and nearer.

“Hello, Kyoken-chan! What brings you here today?” Oikawa greeted cheerfully.

“Iwaizumi-san,” Kyotani said, ignoring Oikawa’s greeting to Hajime’s delight. He thrust the pink envelope towards him. “I got this. What do I do with it?” he asked. Hajime took it from his hands and opened the letter to read the contents while Kyotani fidgeted in front of him. Hajime controlled his urge to smile as he read it, especially when he came across the line ‘I think you’re pretty cute actually, in a rough kind of way. Like a puppy.’ Thankfully, the one who wrote it didn’t sign their name.

“Well, it’s very… specific,” Hajime commented.

“So what do I _do_ with it?” Kyotani asked through gritted teeth.

“You could always write a letter in response. Or try to find the one who sent it,” Oikawa answered. Kyotani kept on ignoring him and instead waited patiently for Hajime’s answer.

“Just do what you want with it,” Hajime shrugged, giving the letter back. “The person didn’t write her name and it’s not a confession letter or anything. Maybe she just wanted you to know her feelings. You don’t really have to answer it.”

“Should I throw it away?” Kyotani asked with a frown.

“Uh… I don’t know,” Hajime scratched the back of his head. “Maybe you can ask Yahaba for advice.”

“Or Oikawa-senpai!” Oikawa piped up.

“Why would I want to as _Yahaba?_ ” Kyotani asked, snarling out Yahaba’s name.

“Well, he gets these kinds of things too and I don’t. Truthfully, he’ll probably give better advice than me,” Hajime replied. Kyotani mulled this over.

“Fine then,” he said, taking the letter back from Hajime and stalking away.

“Why didn’t he notice me at all?” Oikawa cried once he was out of earshot.

“You really do mean nothing to him after all,” Hajime answered.

…

_“Whoa… that’s the largest one I’ve seen…” Hajime said as he gazed into a glass tank that had a large rhinoceros beetle in it. The beetle walked around lazily before spreading its wings to fly and land on one of the branches. “Whoa…” Hajime said again. “Hey Oikawa, come check this out.” He turned around to wave him over._

_“I-I’ll stay here…” Oikawa shook his head and clutched the hem of his t-shirt._

_“Why? What’s the matter?” Hajime asked, walking towards him. Whenever he walked around to view a display up close Oikawa always hung back. “Do you need to go to the bathroom or something?” he asked._

_“N-no it’s not that,” Oikawa said. “I just… don’t really like bugs. They’re gross…”_

_“No way, they’re awesome!” Hajime argued. “But I guess not everyone likes them…” he added._

_“I wanna go see the lizards…” Oikawa pouted._

_“That comes after,” Hajime answered. “But I think there’s something you might like. Here, come with me. I’ll show you,” he said brightly, taking hold of Oikawa’s hands and dragging him along as they left the beetle exhibit._

_“Where are we going, Iwahzoomi-san?” Oikawa asked._

_“You’ll see. And it’s Iwaizumi, not Iwahzoomi.” Hajime told him to close his eyes, which he obeyed, before pulling him into the exhibit room. He positioned Oikawa in front of one of the display cases, which was a much larger glass tank than the ones back at the beetle exhibit._

_“Alright, now you can open your eyes,” Hajime said. Oikawa slowly opened his eyes and gasped out loud at what he saw._

_“Butterflies!” he exclaimed, pressing his hands against the glass tank to get a clearer view._

_“Yeah, I thought you might like these better than the beetles and other insects,” Hajime said._

_“I do! I do!” Oikawa nodded his head enthusiastically and continued to stare wide-eyed at the different butterflies flying around inside the tank. Hajime found himself grinning at the sight of the smile on Oikawa’s face._

_“Thanks Iwashumi-san!” Oikawa smiled at him._

_“You’re saying my name wrong. It’s I-wai-zu-mi,” Hajime said, enunciating each syllable of his name._

_“Iwaishumi,” Oikawa said._

_“Iwaizumi.”_

_“Iwashimi.”_

_“Just call me Iwa or something,” Hajime sighed, scratching the back of his head. “I think you’re having a hard time pronouncing my whole name.”_

_“Okay,” Oikawa nodded. “I’ll call you Iwa-chan!”_

_“You don’t have to add the –chan,” Hajime frowned._

_“But I like it,” Oikawa pouted._

_“Fine,” Hajime gave in. “But only when we’re together. It’s a pretty ridiculous nickname and I don’t want other people to hear it.”_

_“Alright! It’s a deal, Iwa-chan!”_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “My, my. Reading the script already, Iwa-chan? You must be pretty excited for this Romeo role of yours,” Oikawa said in his annoyingly cheerful voice as he sat down next to Hajime.
> 
> “Shouldn’t you? You’re the understudy for Romeo too,” Hajime pointed out.
> 
> “Right, right,” Oikawa nodded. “But I like being Juliet better. The role suits me, doesn’t it?” 
> 
> “Like hell it does,” Hajime growled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I just posted this yesterday and now it has 400 hits??? Thank you all sooo much. I didn't know that this would get that many views after just being newly posted but I'm not complaining (hehe). Anyway, thank you all so much also for all the kind and wonderful comments I received. I've read all of them and they've motivated me a lot to write this next chapter. 
> 
> The updates are actually going to come pretty fast (YAY!) because I'm on summer break and I have the time. I'll be posting from Tuesday to Friday and then take a 3 day long hiatus until the next time I post so I hope you don't mind the weird schedule :D

The ringing of the bell for homeroom was loud enough to wake Hajime from his short, five-minute nap. He groaned and sat up in his seat, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. “You look like a mess,” Matsukawa commented beside him. Hajime looked at him with disdain. ‘That’s because I’m not as lucky as you,’ he thought. Out of the four of them, Matsukawa was the one who got the dream job of painting sets.

“Couldn’t sleep last night,” Hajime replied. He had been thinking of ways to get out of the mess he was dragged into but so far, his most successful idea was of locking Oikawa in his closet until the cultural festival was over.

“My my, Iwa-chan. You need to get a good amount of sleep, or else you’ll look even uglier,” Oikawa reminded him. Hajime figured that he had a death wish because of the way he smiled smugly at him.

“Shut up Trashykawa. I don’t need that coming from you,” Hajime growled. Oikawa usually stayed up much later than he did, especially on the night before a game. But the complete lack of dark circles under his eyes frustrated him greatly. ‘No doubt from all the face shit he uses. Maybe that’s why he’s late sometimes,’ he thought.

“Alright everyone, let’s settle down now,” their teacher said and the class fell silent. “Nakamura-san and Shirokawa-san will be making some announcements. From here on in until Cultural Festival, I would like the class to keep using the homeroom period for preparation. I wish you all the best of luck.” The teacher then left the desk and Nakamura and Shirokawa came up, both holding a huge stack of booklets.

“Thank you for the encouragement, Sakamoto-sensei,” Nakamura bowed before continuing with his announcements. “For the next weeks to come, I’d like us all to use whatever free time we have together as a class to work on our play. Right here, Shirokawa and I have the scripts for the play. Actors, please use your time out of school to memorize them as well.”

“He means us, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa whispered at him and grinned. Hajime rolled his eyes and flicked his forehead while Nakamura and Shirokawa began to hand out the copies of the script.

“Best of luck,” Nakamura said quietly but loud enough for Hajime to hear when he gave him his copy. The script was probably an inch thick and the words ‘Romeo and Juliet’ were printed on the front cover. Curious, Hajime opened it and skimmed through the pages, realizing with dismay that most of the lines there belonged to him.

‘Shit, I can’t memorize all of this!’ he mentally cursed. He looked up and Hanamaki caught his eye. ‘Are they kidding me?’ his expression seemed to say. Hajime smiled and shook his head at him. Beside him, Matsukawa wore a smug smile on his face knowing that he didn’t have to memorize any lines. Suddenly, Oikawa raised his hand.

“Nakamura-san, what about the kissing scenes here?” he asked. Hajime blanched and the whole class erupted in giggles.

“Ah yes, those…” Shirokawa nodded. Hajime opened his booklet and frantically searched the script for those. ‘There’s no way they’re going to add that!” he thought.

“Well, we decided to just take those out instead. It won’t make much of a difference and we don’t have to imitate the script word by word,” Nakamura explained.

“Alright, thank you for the clarification,” Oikawa smiled, looking back down at the script.

“Are there any more questions left?” Shirokawa asked. When the class didn’t answer she dismissed the meeting.

…

_‘But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.’_

“Who the hell wrote this crap? You can’t even understand anything!” Hajime said, frowning as he read his lines from the script.

“Tell me about it,” Hanamaki groaned, laying his head flat against the table. “They couldn’t at least simplify this?”

‘And it’s so fucking cheesy too,’ Hajime added silently. ‘This Romeo guy is such a wimp.’

“Man, do I feel sorry for the two of you,” Matsukawa grinned as he sat down beside Hanamaki. “Having to act and say all those lines in front of the whole school. Must be hard.”

“You could at least try to help!” Hanamaki cried, gripping the collar of Matsukawa’s shirt. “You won’t be doing anything anyway!”

“Of course I’ll be doing something,” Matsukawa grinned down at him. “I’ll be painting sets.”

“My, my. Reading the script already, Iwa-chan? You must be pretty excited for this Romeo role of yours,” Oikawa said in his annoyingly cheerful voice as he sat down next to Hajime.

“Shouldn’t you? You’re the understudy for Romeo too,” Hajime pointed out.

“Right, right,” Oikawa nodded. “But I like being Juliet better. The role suits me, doesn’t it?”

“Like hell it does,” Hajime growled.

“But it’s too bad we won’t be able to do all those kissing scenes, Iwa-chan,” he pouted. Hajime flushed, remembering the part when Romeo and Juliet first met and all the cheesy lines they exchanged. ‘I’m going to have to say those to this bastard’s face, aren’t I?’ he thought. ‘I’ll probably throw up.’

“Thank god we don’t,” Hajime grumbled, opening his can of coffee and taking a drink from it.

“So I guess consummating our love is out of the question too,” Oikawa added.

“What?!” Hajime yelled out after choking on his coffee. He coughed a few times, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“It means having sex,” Matsukawa said.

“Fuck, I know what it means,” Hajime glared. “ _That’s_ part of the play?”

“Yeah,” Hanamaki said. “I also marry you two at some point.”

“ _Marry?_ ” Hajime repeated.

“It’s when a man and a woman join at the altar and—“

“I know what that means, Matsukawa!” Hajime snapped.

“Yeah, I get you guys married,” Hanamaki smirked at them. “But I don’t think I really need to. You guys are already like an old married couple.”

“Does that mean I’ll also be an Iwa-chan?” Oikawa asked, cocking his head.

‘And I’ll be a Trashykawa?’ Hajime added silently.

“It’s a match made in heaven,” Matsukawa smiled.

“Two star-crossed lovers,” Hanamaki added in a high-pitched voice.

“At least I don’t have to wear a bald cap,” Hajime grinned at him. Hanamaki’s face fell at the thought.

“I’ll make sure that happens,” Matsukawa smiled.

“You’ll have to wear a friar robe as well. I wonder how that’ll look,” Oikawa said and flashed an evil grin at Hanamaki’s direction. “A beard might suit you well too. Maybe I can persuade Rei-chan to fix something up.”

“Don’t. You. Dare,” Hanamaki glared.

“Oh relax, Makki. I’m sure you’ll make a great friar,” Oikawa smiled.

“As if,” Hajime snorted. “Who’d want someone like you to bless their marriage?”

“Who’d want someone like you for a husband?” Hanamaki retaliated.

“How mean, Makki,” Oikawa pouted and put an arm around Hajime’s shoulder. “I’m sure Iwa-chan would make a great husband,” he said loudly, loud enough for the people in the tables near them to hear. Hajime paled as he watched Hanamaki and Matsukawa laugh and nudge each other. The rest of the people in the cafeteria stopped talking and then, one by one they began to clap. Nakamura, who was seated a table away, caught Hajime’s eye and smiled.

“It seems you two are already deep into your roles. I’m glad,” he said. Beside him, Oikawa smiled and rubbed the back of his head at the applause.

“Hey, Trashykawa,” Hajime whispered.

“Yes, Iwa-chan?” he replied calmly.

“Have you made a will yet?”

…

_“Iwa-chan! Iwa-chan!” Oikawa yelled, rushing over to where Hajime stood waiting in front of his house. He felt a small smile on his face as he walked to greet his friend._

_“Hey, Oikawa,” he greeted._

_“Sorry, I woke up a bit late today,” Oikawa smiled sheepishly as the two of them began walking to school. It’s been two weeks since their field trip at the reptile house and the two became fast friends. Mostly because they haven’t made any other friends in their school. Oikawa was mostly quiet in class and rarely talked with their other classmates. During recess time, he usually kept to himself indoors, reading storybook after storybook._

_“It’s alright,” Hajime shrugged. “What were you doing last night anyway?”_

_“I was watching a really cool movie with my dad!” Oikawa answered, eyes shining brightly as he looked at Hajime._

_“Oh yeah? What kind of movie?” he grinned back at his friend._

_“It’s called E.T.!”_

_“E.T.?”_

_“Uh huh,” Oikawa nodded. “It stands for something but the name is hard to say. I think it’s extra…teresia? Or was it terestiya?” His brow creased in concentration as he tried to say the name, whistling air through his missing tooth while doing so. Hajime laughed._

_“What’s so funny, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa asked, looking up at him._

_“Nothing,” he smiled, shaking his head. Oikawa pouted._

_“No fair! Tell me, Iwa-chan!”_

_“Your teeth whistle when you try to say the name,” Hajime grinned._

_“Mean Iwa-chan! You know I can’t help it,” Oikawa stomped._

_“I know, sorry Oikawa. I can’t help laughing at it either.”_

_“Wait until you lose_ your _front tooth. Then we’ll see who’ll be laughing next,” Oikawa smirked._

_“Fine, fine Oikawa. How was the movie anyway?” he asked._

_“Oh, it was soooo cool!” Oikawa exclaimed, instantly forgetting their argument. “It’s in English though and it was a bit hard to read the subtitles, you know those words at the bottom of the screen, but it was really cool!”_

_“What was it about?” Hajime asked, cocking his head as he listened to Oikawa._

_“Okay so there was this kid and this alien and then the alien fell to Earth and the kid found him. And then he kept the alien in his room and only his little sister and big brother knew about it. And then the alien, which they called E.T., has like all these super powers like he can heal wounds with his finger and make stuff fly like he did with the bicycles, but that was at the end though. But the part when they were riding bicycles in air was so cool! You should watch it, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa said, speaking fast as he retold the story. Hajime, of course, was still distracted by his teeth whistling._

_“Wow, that sounds pretty cool,” he nodded._

_“Yeah! The bicycle part was just so cool!” Oikawa said again. “Like they were riding it through the air like whoooosh!!” He swept his hand through the air quickly making his glasses fall from his face._

_“Oi, be careful Oikawa,” Hajime reminded him as he bent down to pick up his glasses._

_“Ahh! I can’t see Iwa-chan!” Oikawa complained._

_“Yeah, hold on. I’ve got it,” Hajime grumbled as he lifted Oikawa’s glasses to his face. “Geez, you really are blind without these, aren’t you?” He gently placed the glasses on his friend’s face and Oikawa blinked his eyes several times as he looked up at him._

_“Better?” Hajime asked._

_“Better!” Oikawa exclaimed, flashing him a toothy grin. The two of them resumed walking to school._

_“What would you do if you saw an alien in your backyard, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa spoke up._

_“Me? I’ll probably run to Dad and tell him to chase it away,” Hajime replied._

_“What?! You’ll just chase it away?” Oikawa exclaimed._

_“Yeah. Why not?”_

_“You’re such a scaredy-cat, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa sighed._

_“I’m not scared!” Hajime flushed. “It’s probably gonna be freaky-looking anyway. I wouldn’t want to see that in my backyard. Why? What are you gonna do if you saw one in your backyard?”_

_“Easy. I’ll invite it into the kitchen and give it some milk and cookies,” Oikawa declared proudly._

_“That sounds dumb,” Hajime deadpanned._

_“No it’s not!” Oikawa argued. “If I’m kind to it then maybe they’ll become my friend and take me to their spaceship or something. And then I’ll be able to see all the cool stuff they can do. Chasing it away from my backyard would be dumb.”_

_“Whatever then,” Hajime shrugged. “Maybe they’ll eat your brains or something.”_

_“Only zombies do that, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said as the two of them walked into the school building. A bunch of kids were already there and the two of them placed their bags inside the cubby holes and took of their shoes before walking inside the classroom. Hajime noticed how large his foot was compared to Oikawa’s._

_“Hajime-chan, Tooru-chan,” Miss Sakura greeted as the two of them walked inside. “Good morning.”_

_“Good morning, Sakura-sensei,” Hajime bowed. Oikawa mumbled a good morning beside him and bowed as well. The two of them sat beside each other in the small tables. Miss Sakura gathered the children to settle down when Hajime suddenly felt a tug on his sleeve._

_“Hey, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa whispered._

_“Yeah?”_

_“Do you… want to come to my house sometime to watch E.T.? I want to show you the movie,” Oikawa asked shyly._

_“Sure!” Hajime grinned. “But I’ll have to ask my Mom and Dad if they’ll allow me first.”_

_“Alright, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa grinned._

_“Hey, I told you not to call me that here,” Hajime frowned._

_“Fine, Iwazhumi,” Oikawa pouted._

…

“Oi Trashykawa.”

“Yes, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa asked, turning to him as they walked down the school hallways after dismissal.

“You better help me out with my lines for the play. I’ve got way too much to memorize,” Hajime said, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he walked.

“Of course Iwa-chan! I don’t think your brain can take all that memorizing either. It’ll probably explode like ‘boom’!” Oikawa teased. The two reached their shoe lockers and before Hajime had the chance to smack his friend again at the back of his head, a girl with pigtails came up to Oikawa.

“O-Oikawa-san, um… may I speak to you for a second. If you’re not busy…” she said shyly. Hajime spotted a pink envelope in her hands and knew right away what she was going to say.

“I’ll be going ahead, Oikawa,” he said, taking his shoes from his shoe locker and putting them on. “See you by the front entrance.”

“Sure, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa called out after him. “Now, you’re Reiko-chan, right?” he asked addressing the girl. Hajime didn’t linger any longer and started walking ahead. He turned around only once to see the girl, Reiko-chan, hand Oikawa the pink envelope.

This was a familiar sight to Hajime. It started during their last year in middle school, when Oikawa’s volleyball prowess called the attention of various girls in their school. It wasn’t just the volleyball either. Presumably, his ‘dashing’ looks and ‘charming’ personality reeled them in as well. The first time Oikawa received a confession he had panicked and ran away to tell Hajime about it. But as the number of confessions grew, so did his confidence in dealing with them.

Hajime remembered how much Oikawa changed ever since grade school ended and they started middle school. Aside from him growing taller, to Hajime’s frustration, he also got rid of his glasses and started fixing his hair a bit more. He talked with more confidence among his other peers and eventually earned the respect of most of the other volleyball players in their team. But no matter how much Oikawa changed, a part of Hajime still saw him as that kid who was smaller than him with thick-rimmed glasses, messy hair, and had one of his front teeth missing.

“Iwa-chan! Wait up!” Hajime heard Oikawa call after him. He slowed down his pace to allow him to catch up.

“That was fast. Another confession?” Hajime asked.

“Yup! I really am just too good-looking,” Oikawa sighed and shook his head.

“The girl must have been blind,” Hajime deadpanned as a small feeling of dread settled in his gut. Every time his friend was pulled aside for a confession he felt this feeling of dread, although Hajime wasn’t exactly sure why.

“Mean, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa bristled. “And for your information, Reiko-chan didn’t just like me for my looks. She also said that she liked my charming personality and my skill as a volleyball player.”

“So did you say yes?” Hajime muttered under his breath.

“Huh? What was that?”

“Did you say yes?” Hajime asked in a much louder voice. Oikawa blinked at him and smiled.

“No. I politely declined,” he answered. Hajime felt relief wash over him and he let out a breath. “I hope she doesn’t feel too bad about it, though…” Oikawa mused.

“Why didn’t you say yes?” Hajime asked, frowning. Despite all the confessions he received, Oikawa always politely declined every one of them. He did this enough times for Hajime to predict that he wouldn’t say yes whenever another confession came along. But another part of him knew that there was still the possibility of Oikawa saying yes to one of them. And that part of him was also responsible for the feeling of dread that grew in Hajime whenever he asked Oikawa for his answer.

“Well Reiko-chan is nice and everything and she’s always supportive when it comes to our volleyball matches,” Oikawa explained. “But I don’t think I really like her in that way either.”

“You never say yes to any of the girls who’ve confessed to you either,” Hajime muttered.

“Yeah, that’s true…” Oikawa smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. “I don’t think I’ve found someone who I really like yet.”

“Is that so…” Hajime said.

“What would you do if I said yes?” Oikawa said quietly, too soft for Hajime to hear quite properly.

“What?” he asked.

“What would you do if I said yes to a girl who confessed to me?” Oikawa asked again, looking at Hajime straight in the eye. He could see that he was completely serious about this question and Hajime looked down, struggling for an answer.

“Well, I’d feel sorry for them since they’ll see your true nature and have to deal with it,” Hajime answered, trying to sound as mean as possible as he looked down at the ground.

“How mean, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa chuckled half-heartedly. “You won’t feel happy for me or anything?”

‘Happy?’ Hajime thought. His emotions were thrown into a turmoil at the sound of the question. Happy didn’t seem like the word to describe how Hajime would feel if that happened. But Oikawa was his best friend, no matter how many times he denied it in front of other people, and he should feel happy for him if he did say yes to a girl. But something held him back from saying that he would feel happy for him, and it killed Hajime to not know what it was. For now, he decided to push it back down.

“Yeah, I guess I would feel happy for you,” he said. Oikawa looked at him for half a beat before shifting his eyes downward.

“Is that so..?” he said softly.

“Mhmmm,” Hajime nodded as his house came into view. A breath of relief escaped his chest once he found a reason to not have to continue the awkward conversation they were having.

“Well, I’m going home. See you tomorrow, Oikawa,” he said, walking ahead to his house.

“Yeah, see you tomorrow, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa waved, his face back to its usual cheer.

“You better start reading the script too. You’ll be helping me practice tomorrow,” Hajime reminded him.

“Yes, yes. Well then, see you,” Oikawa smiled before turning around to leave.

…

“So, Hajime? Anything new today at school?” Hajime looked up from his dinner of curry rice at his mother who was smiling at him. His father silently ate beside her.

“Well, our cultural festival is coming up soon. Our class is doing a play,” Hajime answered.

“A play? That’s a classic,” his father smiled.

“What play are you doing?” his mother asked.

“Romeo and Juliet,” Hajime sighed. ‘I don’t think you can even call it that,’ he thought. ‘Since Juliet’s a boy.’

“Ah! How wonderful!” his mother exclaimed and clapped her hands together. His father rolled his eyes but smiled fondly at his wife.

“What role are you playing?” she asked. Hajime felt his right eyebrow twitch at the question.

“That idiot Oikawa nominated me as Romeo so now the whole class is into it.” He squeezed his eyes shut as both of his parents started laughing at the same time.

“You’re playing Romeo?” his father asked incredulously.

“We’re definitely watching this play, right dear?” his mother added.

“Geez, now I regret telling you guys anything,” Hajime groaned.

“Well, I’m sure you’d make a fine Romeo, son,” his father laughed, clapping Hajime on his back.

“So who’s playing Juliet then?” his mother asked. “I bet she’s a really pretty girl…”

“No actually, our Juliet isn’t really a girl,” Hajime answered. “It’s Oikawa.” All of a sudden, the table fell silent once those two words were uttered. Hajime’s parents exchanged glances and suddenly, he wasn’t sure if he should have said that either.

“By Oikawa, you mean Tooru-chan, right?” his mother asked, keeping a smile on her face.

“Yeah,” Hajime nodded. “But Matsukawa and Hanamaki nominated him as a joke actually. Just like how Oikawa nominated me for Romeo so I guess we’re both in this mess together,” he said, chuckling slightly to make it seem like not that big a deal.

“I see…” his mother pursed her lips. “So the two of you are playing Romeo and Juliet.”

“Didn’t your teacher say something about it?” his father asked stiffly.

“No, and our class representative saw it as a good idea too,” Hajime answered. “Look, I’m not really into playing Romeo either, especially since I’ll have to act like I’m in love with that idiot Oikawa. But the class wanted us to do it so there’s no getting out of it either.”

“You’re right,” his mother said, smiling tightly at him. “It doesn’t really mean anything, right dear?”

“Nope, I’m sure we’re just overthinking it,” his father nodded, smiling the same tight smile his mother had. “Well, that was a delicious dinner, Shizuka,” he said, wiping his mouth and standing up. “But I’ll be retiring to my office now. I have a lot of work to do.” Hajime noticed that his plate was still half-full of food.

“You’re welcome, dear. Hajime, you better finish up already,” his mother said.

“Yes Mom,” he answered, frowning down in confusion at his plate as he finished his food. He felt his father clap him once on his back before heading upstairs to his office.

…

_The first thing that greeted Hajime when he came over to his friend’s house was the sight of Oikawa sitting on the front steps of his house with his elbows on his knees. Hajime guessed by the bored expression on his face that he had been sitting there for quite a while. He grinned and gripped his overnight bag tightly as he ran ahead of his mother to greet his friend._

_“Hey, Oikawa!” he yelled loudly, waving his hand as he rushed to meet him. He watched his friend’s bored expression light up at the sight of him._

_“Iwa-chan! Iwa-chan! You’re here!” Oikawa jumped up and ran to his friend. The front door opened behind him and Oikawa’s mother went outside to greet them._

_“So this is the famous Iwa-chan,” she said, smiling at the two of them with her hands on her hips. “I’ve heard so much about you.”_

_“Hello um… Miss Oikawa?” Hajime greeted, unsure of what to call her since he was already calling his friend Oikawa._

_“Oh, you can just call me Auntie,” she laughed. Hajime’s mother finally caught up with them and she smiled and shook Miss Oikawa’s hand._

_“Hello, thanks for allowing my son to sleep over,” she said. “It’s his first time actually. He barely slept at all last night,” she chuckled._

_“Well Tooru-chan’s been super excited about it too. Weren’t you?” she said, ruffling up her son’s hair._

_“Yeah! We’re going to have so much fun today!” he grinned, raising his hands in the air._

_“He’s been sitting on the front steps all day,” his mother sighed. Hajime’s mother chuckled in response._

_“Okay, I’m going to leave now, Hajime. Be good and don’t bother Miss Oikawa, alright?” his mother bent down._

_“I won’t, Mom,” Hajime smiled up at her._

_“Don’t forget to have fun either. And share the candy you brought with you,” she added, standing up._

_“Yes, Mom. See you tomorrow!”_

_“Bye,” she waved. She bid goodbye to the other two Oikawas before leaving._

_“Well, come on. In we go already,” Oikawa’s mother, or Auntie, said as she ushered the two of them inside the house. It wasn’t as big as Hajime’s house but it was still pretty spacious. As soon as they were inside, Oikawa grabbed his hand and led him towards the stairs._

_“Come on, Iwa-chan. I’ll show you my room,” he said, running up the stairs._

_“I’ll bring up some snacks later,” his mother called after him._

_“Thanks Mom!” Oikawa yelled back._

_“Thanks Auntie,” Hajime added as he was pulled up the stairs and into Oikawa’s room. Inside, there were two futons laid out in the middle of the floor and shelves full of books against the walls. There was a large window on one wall and a TV on top of one of the shelves in the room._

_“You can place your bag there, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said, pointing at a spot against the wall where a closet was._

_“Alright,” Hajime said, placing his bag there and pulling out a bag of marshmallows. “My mom made me bring candy too.”_

_“Awesome! We can make s’mores with that!” Oikawa grinned while fiddling with something on the TV. Hajime walked towards him and sat down on one of the futons with the bag of marshmallows. He looked up at the ceiling and saw that it was covered with stars tacked onto it._

_“Are those glow-in-the-dark?” Hajime asked, smiling as he looked at them._

_“Uh huh,” Oikawa grinned. “My dad helped me put them up on my birthday last year. This year I’m going to ask him for a telescope!”_

_“Sounds awesome,” Hajime said, turning his attention to Oikawa who was placing a CD into the DVD player connected to the TV._

_“I’m gonna show you E.T. now,” he grinned at Hajime. “I also have a bunch of movies we can watch later. You can pick the next one. But my mom said that we shouldn’t stay up too late.” The movie started playing just when Auntie came in with a tray full of snacks for the two of them._

_“Ah, you’re watching E.T. again?” his mother laughed as she set the tray down in front of the two of them. “Isn’t this the fifth time you’ve watched it?”_

_“Sixth!” Oikawa corrected her._

_“He’s crazy about it,” Auntie said, smiling at Hajime. “I brought some cookies for you two but don’t eat too much. We still have dinner.”_

_“Thanks Auntie,” Hajime said, remembering what his mother said about being polite._

_“Iwa-chan brought marshmallows too! We can make some s’mores!” Oikawa cheered._

_“Ah, that’s good. I think Dad would want some too,” Auntie said, taking the bag from Hajime. “Thank you.”_

_“Iwa-chan! Iwa-chan! Look! The spaceship is so cool!” Oikawa pulled at the sleeve of Hajime’s shirt and pointed at the TV._

_“You’re right. It really looks like the real thing,” he said, watching the screen with his mouth open._

_“Well, I’ll leave you to it,” Auntie said, standing up. She stopped by the door and smiled at the sight of her son and his friend watching a movie. She knew how hard it was on him to move to a new place and make new friends. But now that she saw that he made a new friend, she knew that she no longer had to worry about him._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading~~~!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this. For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.” Oikawa recited his lines loud and clear, pouring out emotion through them. ‘He’s really good at this…’ Hajime thought as he watched his friend. He wouldn’t be surprised if every female within a five hundred-meter radius fainted at that moment. All the while, Oikawa’s gaze was fixed right on Hajime and he felt his face grow red as he tried to say the next line.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Headcanon Idea: Oikawa being obsessed with Doctor Who as a child.
> 
> Sorry for the late update! I know I was supposed to post yesterday but I had some stuff to do (ritual animal slaughtering) so I couldn't post. But, this chapter is also pretty long so I hope it makes up for that :D I'll be taking a 3-day long hiatus after so the next one will be coming out next week.

“If I profane with my… unworthiest…hand…. This—“

“Cut!” Nakamura yelled from his makeshift ‘Director’s Seat’ placed right in front of the scene Oikawa and Hajime were acting out in the middle of the classroom. Hajime still had Oikawa’s hand in his and he quickly dropped it once Nakamura told them to stop. They were acting out scene five of act one when Romeo and Juliet, which they changed to Julius for the play, met for the first time.

“Iwa-chan, you sound so monotonous,” Oikawa complained. “You’re supposed to add _meaning_ to it.”

“How can I when I can’t even understand what’s written here?” Hajime grumbled as he read over that part of the script.

“Iwaizumi, you’re Romeo meeting Juliet—“

“Julius,” Shirokawa pointed out.

“Right, Julius, for the first time and you’ve instantly fell in love with him. So, you have to act like you’re in love when you read your lines,” Nakamura said exasperatedly.

“Right, right Iwa-chan,” Oikawa nodded. Hajime resisted the urge to punch his face and sighed instead.

“Alright, sorry about that,” he apologized. Three days have passed since the scripts were given out and in those days, Nakamura ordered them to roughly act out the scenes with the scripts still with them. The first few ones weren’t that hard for Hajime since he only had to engage in a conversation with Benvolio, played out by one of his classmates. But once Oikawa came in, everything was much harder.

“We’ll take it from that line then,” Nakamura announced as Oikawa and Hajime got into their position. Oikawa offered his hand to Hajime with a smug smile on his face which he took and squeezed in a death grip for good measure. But he couldn’t stop the creeping blush that was slowly spreading on his cheeks.

“Action!” Shirokawa yelled.

“If I profane with my unworthiest hand. This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand. To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss,” Hajime said in his loudest voice, trying not to sound as monotonous as possible. Of course he still had to look deep into Oikawa’s eyes while having a love-struck, well somewhat love-struck, look on his face.

“Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this. For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.” Oikawa recited his lines loud and clear, pouring out emotion through them. ‘He’s really good at this…’ Hajime thought as he watched his friend. He wouldn’t be surprised if every female within a five hundred-meter radius fainted at that moment. All the while, Oikawa’s gaze was fixed right on Hajime and he felt his face grow red as he tried to say the next line.

“Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?”

“Ay pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer,” Oikawa said smoothly, not even looking down at his own script. He took a step closer to Hajime. The room fell silent as his classmates watched in anticipation. Hajime’s eyes glanced at the audience for a split second and was suddenly aware of the position he and Oikawa were in. Their faces were only inches part and Hajime was still holding Oikawa’s hand in his. He took a step back.

“Cut,” Nakamura said exasperatedly. Hajime squeezed his eyes shut and let go of Oikawa’s hand.

“That was good until that part,” Nakamura announced. “When Iwaizumi took a step back.”

“Sorry,” he mumbled. Oikawa said nothing.

“Alright, we’ll have a short break for now and then redo the scene from that part,” Nakamura said. Hajime nodded and walked over to a corner in the classroom where his bag was. He sat down on the floor and took a sip of water from his water bottle. His throat felt dry from reciting lines all morning and Hajime begged for the day to finally be over.

“Hey Iwa-chan,” Oikawa popped up and sat down cross-legged on the floor next to Hajime.

“Hey…” Hajime greeted half-heartedly. “You better not be here to gloat, Trashykawa.”

“Of course not, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa chuckled, leaning back against the wall so their shoulders were touching. “I’m not _that_ mean.”

“But you’re not a saint either.”

“That’s true,” Oikawa said. A beat of silence passed when he spoke up again. “You know, I didn’t nominate you to become Romeo just because I wanted to make fun of you.” Hajime had to turn to look at him to check if he was serious, but Oikawa’s expression betrayed no sign of him making fun of his friend.

“Then why did you make me become Romeo?” Hajime asked gruffly.

“Because I knew you’d be able to do it,” Oikawa answered. “You’ve always been able to do things once you’ve set your mind on them. Remember when we did that play back in third grade?”

“We had a play back in third grade?” Hajime asked incredulously.

“Aww… Iwa-chan. How could you not remember?” Oikawa pouted. “But yeah, we did have a play. I think it was Rapunzel?”

“That’s such a dumb name. No wonder I don’t remember it,” Hajime rolled his eyes.

“Not even when it was you who played the role of the prince?” Oikawa blinked at him.

“No,” Hajime said gruffly, trying to search his mind for some kind of memory.

“Well you played it really well. I remember since I was watching from the audience,” Oikawa said, smiling to himself at the memory. “You had a really loud voice, everyone in the audience could hear it. You missed most of your lines though but you sure acted like a prince.” Hajime found himself smiling along as well.

“Too bad I don’t remember it then. It would sure come in handy now,” he said.

“Do you at least remember us play-acting as Doctor Who when we were kids?” Oikawa asked, raising his eyebrow.

“Now _that_ I remember,” Hajime grinned. “You always wanted to be the Doctor while I was always the companion.”

“That’s because you hardly knew anything about it, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa teased.

“Hey, I watched it with you. I just couldn’t understand why you were that into it.”

“But you still made a pretty good companion,” Oikawa grinned.

“You’re so lame,” Hajime shook his head. Oikawa nudged his shoulder playfully.

“Well, if you didn’t remember doing that play in third grade, then you probably don’t remember the charm I taught you to get over stage-fright,” he said, cocking his head at Hajime.

“Funny, I never remembered you being of any help to me at all,” he deadpanned.

“I did help you!” Oikawa argued. “I helped you loads of times!”

“Yeah right, Trashykawa,” Hajime rolled his eyes.

“Just give me your hand. I’ll teach it to you all over again,” Oikawa sighed. Hajime looked at him warily but did as he was told, placing his right hand over Oikawa’s own outstretched hand.

“Okay, now what?” Hajime asked.

“First, you draw the character of ‘man’ on your palm,” Oikawa said, tracing the said kanji on Hajime’s palm with his index finger. His skin tickled slightly at the touch and Hajime tried to focus his gaze elsewhere instead of at Oikawa.

“Then after, you swallow it,” his friend finished.

“Swallow it?” Hajime repeated, raising an eyebrow at his friend.

“Yeah. Swallow it,” Oikawa nodded. “Like this.” He drew ‘man’ on his own palm before holding it to his mouth and ‘swallowing’ it. Hajime frowned but repeated the same action.

“Wow, I feel a surging amount of confidence now,” he said sarcastically.

“It’s not supposed to give you a ‘surging amount of confidence’ Iwa-chan,” Oikawa chuckled. “It’s just supposed to help calm you down.” Strangely enough, Hajime did feel like he had calmed down. But it wasn’t because of the trick Oikawa showed him, rather because of Oikawa himself.

‘Did I just admit to myself that Shittykawa helped me out?’ Hajime realized with a slight amount of frustration and disappointment in himself.

“So, did it work, Iwa-chan? Did it help you calm down?” Oikawa asked, looking up at him expectantly.

“It was completely useless, Trashykawa,” Hajime deadpanned.

“You couldn’t have at least lightened the blow, Iwa-chan?”

“No.”

“Is that so?” Oikawa sighed. “Well, if you get nervous you can always just keep looking at me. I noticed that you glanced at the audience before you backed away.”

“Yeah,” Hajime confessed. It seemed that Oikawa’s skill of paying attention to both his teammates and opponents extended to theatre as well.

“Don’t look at the audience. It’s like looking straight at the blockers when you spike. If you look ahead, you can always see where to spike, right?” Oikawa said. “So if you just keep looking at me and not at the audience, then you’ll stay calm and say your lines as well.”

“Alright, break’s over. We’re doing the scene again,” Nakamura announced, calling people to attention.

“We better go, Romeo,” Oikawa teased, standing up.

“Yeah,” Hajime sighed, standing up as well.

“Remember. Don’t look at the audience. Just look at me and stay calm, okay?” Oikawa said with his back turned to Hajime as he walked to his position for the scene.

‘But what if you’re the reason I’m so nervous?’ Hajime thought. Nakamura sat back down on his ‘Director’s Seat’ with Shirokawa standing by his side, holding a clipboard. Hajime stood in front of Oikawa and reluctantly took his hand.

“Okay from Julius’s line ‘Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer…’” Nakamura said, reading from the script he had on hand. “And… action!”

‘He must be enjoying this whole directing thing,” Hajime thought as Oikawa recited his lines. His voice was soft and a small smile danced on his lips. Suddenly, Hajime was aware of all the eyes in the room fixated on the two of them. ‘Why does this idiot have to attract too much attention?’ he thought irritably. Oikawa squeezed his hand reassuringly and without thinking at all, Hajime took hold of his other hand and stepped forward boldly as he said his own lines.

“O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do. They pray; grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.” He spotted Oikawa’s eyes widen slightly in surprise but he did not break out of character.

“Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake.”

“Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take.” Hajime knew that this was the part where he was supposed to kiss Oikawa but he didn’t dare do that, not in a million years. Instead he recited his next line.

“Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged.”

“Then have my lips the sin that they have took,” Oikawa returned. Hajime was aware that at this part, Julius was basically asking Romeo to kiss him again. ‘Was this really how flirting was like before?’ Hajime wondered. But he pushed the thought of his head.

“Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again,” Hajime said, realizing that he was actually _acting_ and not just reciting lines out loud. ‘Nakamura better like this…’

“You kiss by th’ book,” Oikawa said, smiling right at Hajime. He couldn’t tell if he was doing it for the sake of acting or because of what he was doing.

“Alright, cut!” Nakamura called, Hajime felt a breath of relief escape from his chest as he instantly let go of Oikawa’s hands. To his surprise, everyone else in the room started clapping.

“That was a good scene,” Shirokawa said, flashing a rare smile.

“Amazing,” Nakamura agreed as he clapped along with everyone else.

“See that, Iwa-chan? I knew that charm would work,” Oikawa grinned as he wrapped an arm over Hajime’s shoulder.

“Whatever, Trashykawa,” he grumbled, however he couldn’t stop a small smile from appearing on his face.

“That’s a wrap everyone. We’ll practice the next few scenes tomorrow,” Nakamura announced before looking at Oikawa and Hajime. “Good job you two,” he told them.

“Thanks, Daiki-chan,” Oikawa smiled.

“Don’t call me Daiki-chan.”

…

_Hajime crept up to the side of the stage and took a peek from behind the curtain to look at the audience. To his dismay, there are twice as many people in the audience than there was the last time he checked. All he could see was a sea of grandparents, parents, siblings, friends, and teachers seated in front of the stage. Their cameras were already pulled out at ready. Hajime swallowed and sat down._

_In a few minutes he would be on that stage in front of dozens of audience members. Hajime went over his lines in his head, mumbling them again and again as he gripped the hilt of his fake, plastic sword. He was wearing a prince costume that his mother made especially for him. Dark blue pants with a long-sleeved matching shirt. He even had a cape with him. His mother really went over the top when she made his costume. After all, Hajime was playing the prince._

_He went up to the curtain and took another peek at the audience. He tried searching for a sign of his parents and grandparents among the crowd. His mother would probably be having her camera with her and taking a million pictures while his father would be telling her to stop._

_‘What if I forget my lines?’ Hajime thought. His heart hammered in his chest and his throat felt dry. ‘What if I accidentally trip on my cape? What if I accidentally drop my sword?’ A million thoughts ran through his head and Hajime squeezed his eyes, trying to concentrate on the lines that he would have to say._

_“Iwa-chan?” A familiar voice called out to him and Hajime opened his eyes to see Oikawa standing in front of him, watching him with his head cocked to the side._

_“O-oh Oikawa. Hey,” Hajime smiled weakly._

_“Are you okay, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa asked, concern written all over his face._

_“I-I’m fine!” Hajime lied. “Besides, aren’t you supposed to be at the audience right now? The play’s gonna start in a few minutes.” Oikawa hadn’t gotten a part in the play, much to his relief, since he said that he got stage fright often. He looked down and kicked at the ground with his sneakers._

_“Yeah but…”_

_“What is it?”_

_“I wanted to help you out Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said, looking up at him. “You’re nervous, aren’t you?”_

_“Yeah… I guess I am,” Hajime nodded and smiled to himself. “What if I mess up a line or something? Or trip over my cape?”_

_“That would be embarrassing,” Oikawa giggled. “But you won’t mess up your lines. You practiced really hard for this, haven’t you?”_

_“Mmm…hmmm,” Hajime nodded. “But I’m still nervous…”_

_“That’s why I’m here to help!” Oikawa grinned. “I learned this from grandma before. It’s a charm to help you calm down and stop being nervous.”_

_“A charm?”_

_“Yeah!” Oikawa nodded. “Here, give me your hand. I’ll show you.” Hajime frowned but gave his hand to Oikawa nonetheless. He felt him trace something on his palm using his finger._

_“What’s that?” Hajime asked, frowning down at his hand._

_“It’s the kanji for ‘man,’” Oikawa answered. “Now swallow it.”_

_“Ha? Swallow it?”_

_“Yeah!” Oikawa nodded. “My grandma told me that if you draw the kanji for ‘man’ on your palm and then swallow it, you’re nervousness will go away and you’ll calm down. Easy.”_

_“Okaay…” Hajime said slowly and then proceeded to ‘swallow’ the character._

_“So? Did it work? Did it work?” Oikawa asked excitedly._

_“No. It didn’t do anything,” Hajime said flatly._

_“Really?” Oikawa pouted disappointedly._

_“J-just a little… I guess,” Hajime added hastily after seeing his friend’s expression. “It helped me a little.”_

_“Well, I’ll be cheering for you, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa grinned. “I’ll be cheering really loudly for you so you won’t feel nervous.”_

_“If you do, other people won’t even be able to hear me say my lines,” Hajime smiled._

_“Ah right…” Oikawa rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “But I’ll be sitting in the front row so you’ll be able to see me.”_

_“There are a million people in the front row, Oikawa,” Hajime rolled his eyes._

_“I know! That’s why I brought these.” Oikawa said excitedly and pulled out two glowsticks from his backpack, each one as long as his arm. He cracked them both at the same time before shaking them. The glowsticks lit up, shining a weird, green-ish glow on Oikawa’s face._

_“See! I’ll be holding these up so you’ll be able to see me really clearly!” Oikawa grinned, waving the sticks in front of his face. Hajime cracked a smile at seeing his friend and then began to laugh. He had to place a hand against the wall to keep himself from falling over. Slowly, he began to feel his nervousness fade away._

_“What’s so funny, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa pouted._

_“Nothing,” Hajime shook his head and wiped a tear from his eye. “But I feel a lot less nervous now.”_

_“Really? Is it because of the glowsticks?” Oikawa asked._

_“Yeah. It’s because of the glowsticks,” Hajime grinned. “What are you going to do if those run out, though?”_

_“Don’t worry. I brought more.” Oikawa picked up his bag and showed it to Hajime. It was indeed filled with glowsticks._

_“Thanks, Oikawa. I feel much better now,” Hajime smiled._

_“No problem, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa smiled back, putting his backpack on. “I have to go now. See you on the stage!”_

_“Right,” Hajime nodded as he watched Oikawa leave. A few minutes later, the play started and Hajime’s classmates went onstage to act out the first part of the play. He took the chance to look out at the audience. There were still a lot of people there, but Hajime no longer felt nervous about it. Especially since he could see Oikawa seated right there in the front row, wearing a large backpack and holding two, green glowsticks in his hands._

...

“Do I have to memorize _all_ of this?” Hajime asked incredulously as Oikawa opened his script to Act 2, Scene 2. The part where Romeo meets Julius at the balcony. The script was edited slightly by Shirokawa from the real version but Hajime still had to recite about twenty lines. He knew that there was no way he could remember all of it.

“Yes, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa replied cheerfully as the two of them left the convenience store. Oikawa had wanted to stop by to get a drink before they headed over to Hajime’s place to practice one of the scenes they had to do.

“And there’s even more after that,” Hajime added as he flipped through the rest of the pages. “Why couldn’t Shirokawa make it shorter?”

“Relax, we’ll get it done in no time.”

“Easy for you to say,” Hajime grumbled, knowing that Oikawa would probably memorize all of it by tomorrow. Until now, he still didn’t know how he could memorize things that quickly even if he spent a short amount of time working on it.

“That’s why you called me over, right?” Oikawa winked before taking a sip of the iced green tea he bought. Hajime made a face.

“How could you drink that stuff?” he asked.

“Why? It’s good. Lots of antioxidants,” Oikawa shrugged and took another long sip. Hajime shook his head and opened the can of soda he bought. The house was empty when they came since Hajime’s mother had work so he opened the door with the key he brought with him. The two of them headed up to Hajime’s room to work on their lines.

“So,” Oikawa said, sitting down on the floor with his back against Hajime’s bed. “Wanna try reading it out first?”

“Yeah, and then we could try memorizing after.” Hajime dropped his bag on his desk and sat on the floor in front of Oikawa. The two of them opened their scripts up in front of them.

“You first.”

“Alright,” Hajime cleared his throat and began to recite his lines. “He jests at scars that never felt a wound.”

“I appear on the window above,” Oikawa said next.

“But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun…”

The two of them spent their afternoon reading out loud from the script and trying to memorize their lines as much as possible. Next, they had to say their own lines out loud without the script, and with acting. Oikawa butted in at times with his own comments like ‘Too monotonous, Iwa-chan’ or ‘Wrong line, Iwa-chan’ but other than that, the activity wasn’t as bad as Hajime thought it would be. It was definitely better than having to act out the scene in front of Nakamura and Shirokawa and all their other classmates since Hajime didn't ’have to feel so nervous about it. But being alone in a room with Oikawa and reciting all those cheesy lines to him brought up a very different kind of nervousness.

“Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet,” Oikawa said from his position. Since it was the ‘balcony scene,’ Oikawa decided to stand on top of Hajime’s bed while he knelt down at the floor.

“Shall I hear more, or—Damn, I forgot my line,” Hajime cursed.

“It’s ‘Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?’” Oikawa reminded him.

“Can we take a break?” Hajime groaned and lay down on the floor.

“Yeah, I’m tired too,” Oikawa agreed, stepping of the bed and sitting on the floor next to his friend. “At least you memorized the first part, Iwa-chan.”

“But there are still so many other lines to memorize,” Hajime groaned. “I can’t even understand but I just know they’re all cheesy as fuck.”

“They’re not that cheesy, well, except for Romeo of course,” Oikawa chuckled. “But I really do like this scene.”

“You actually understand what’s going on?” Hajime asked incredulously. ‘Well, I should be that surprised,’ he added silently. ‘He is Oikawa after all.’

“Of course,” Oikawa nodded. “Right now, Julius knows that Romeo’s a Montague and his family’s enemy and everything. But he’s saying that he still loves Romeo even if he is a Montague because he believes that a name isn’t a part of a person. Even if Romeo had another name, he’d still love him.”

“Is that so?” Hajime said, mulling it over. ‘Well I guess that is a pretty nice thought…’

“But of course you wouldn’t understand it, Iwa-chan. Your brain’s too small,” Oikawa added.

“You want to die, Shittykawa?” Hajime growled, sitting up.

“Hehe… sorry. No thanks, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa apologized, holding his hands up in surrender. Suddenly, Hajime heard the sound of the door opening downstairs.

“Hajime? Are you home?” she called.

“Yeah mom, up here,” Hajime replied as he heard the sound of feet going up the stairs. His mother opened the door.

“Oh, Oikawa’s here,” she said, smiling once she saw Oikawa sitting on the floor next to her son. Hajime heard the tightness in her voice and could see that her smile looked somehow forced.

“Hello Auntie!” Oikawa smiled and waved.

“Hello dear,” his mother replied, still wearing that forced smile.

“We’re practicing for our Romeo and Juliet, or should I say Julius, play,” Oikawa explained. “Has Iwa-chan told you about it?”

“Yes, yes he did,” his mother nodded. “He also told me you were playing…Julius? Am I right?”

“Yeah. I hope you can come to watch it.”

“I’m sure it’ll be a _wonderful_ play,” his mother said before turning to Hajime. “Dear, please don’t close the door next time.”

“Yes…mom,” Hajime answered, although he knew something was definitely off about what she said. She never cared if Hajime closed the door of his room, even when it was just him and Oikawa alone.

“Well, it’s getting late already. Shouldn’t you be heading home, Tooru-chan?” she asked sweetly. ‘She always lets him stay for dinner,’ Hajime thought. He turned to Oikawa, wondering if he could also detect the same things he did.

“Thanks for the offer, Auntie but I better head home already. Mom’s making hot pot,” Oikawa smiled lightly and stood up. Hajime couldn’t tell if he was just making an excuse to leave or if he was telling the truth. If it was the former, then surely Oikawa could tell that Hajime’s mother wanted him to leave.

“Alright, Tooru-chan,” his mother said.

“See you, Oikawa,” Hajime waved.

“See you tomorrow, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa waved back. “Make sure you memorize those lines by tomorrow. Bye Auntie,” he said before heading down the stairs. Hajime’s mother smiled at him before going to her room, leaving Hajime alone and wondering what just happened.

…

_“Iwa-chan, a bit to the left please?”_

_“Like that?” Hajime asked, as he repositioned the poster by moving it slightly to the left._

_“Great. And then down by a little bit,” Oikawa ordered._

_“Alright,” Hajime said exasperatedly but moved the poster a bit down._

_“Perfect!” Oikawa cried out. Hajime grinned and tacked the poster in place before stepping of the chair and standing beside Oikawa. He had asked Hajime to come over to his house to help hang his posters since his friend was much taller than he was. The two of them looked around their room to admire their handiwork. Oikawa’s walls, which used to be a plain light blue, were now covered with a collage of Doctor Who, E.T., and cartoonish alien posters._

_“It’s awesome!” Oikawa exclaimed. “Thanks Iwa-chan!”_

_“Sure, sure,” Hajime smiled, feeling proud of his own handiwork as well. “But remember, you promised to help clean out my beetle tank on Saturday.”_

_“I know…” Oikawa shuddered. “Can you at least—“_

_“Don’t worry, I’ll remove the beetles beforehand so you won’t be freaked out,” Hajime interrupted, rolling his eyes at his friend._

_“I’ll help you fix your shelves,” Oikawa offered._

_“Deal!” Hajime grinned and shook his hand. “So, what do we do next?”_

_“Let’s play Doctor Who!” Oikawa yelled._

_“Again?” Hajime moaned. “That’s what we played yesterday.” Ever since Oikawa got addicted to Doctor Who, he begged Hajime to watch episodes of it with him in his house. Occasionally, they liked to pretend they were the Doctor and his companion and have their own adventures._

_“Please, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa begged. “I’ll let you pick who we’re fighting…”_

_“Okay. Then I choose the Weeping Angels then,” Hajime grinned. Every episode that had the Weeping Angels in it was definitely his favorite._

_“But they’re scary Iwa-chan,” Oikawa shuddered. “Why do you like them?”_

_“I like them because they’re scary, duh,” Hajime said._

_“Fine, we’ll have Weeping Angels then,” Oikawa grumbled. “But I still get to be the Doctor.”_

_“You’re always the Doctor, Oikawa,” Hajime scoffed as he watched his friend put on his ‘Doctor Costume.’ It consisted of a brown coat that belonged to his dad, a necktie, and of course, his Sonic Screwdriver which was a gift from his parents._

_“And you’re always my faithful companion,” Oikawa grinned, shoving his left arm into the sleeve of his coat. He picked up his Sonic Screwdriver and headed out of his room yelling “Allons-y!” as he ran down the stairs._

...

_Hajime looked in fear at the three ‘Weeping Angels,’ which were actually small angel statues that served as Christmas tree ornaments, in front of him. “Doctor!” he yelled. “There’s something here that I think you should see.”_

_Oikawa came bounding into the room and gasped when he saw the Weeping Angels. “Iwa-chan,” he said slowly, walking over to him. “Whatever you do, don’t blink. Blink and it will disappear.”_

_“Why? Doctor, what are they?” Hajime asked, trying to sound as scared as possible._

_“Those are called Weeping Angels,” Oikawa answered, pointing his Sonic Screwdriver at them. “They’re aliens but with a special kind of defense mechanism. As long as you keep your eyes on them, they freeze in place. But once you blink or take your eyes off them for even one millisecond, they’ll move. It’s very interesting actually but they are very dangerous creatures,” he said. Hajime felt his lips curl up in a smile. Whenever Oikawa played the Doctor, he tried to act and sound like him too. But he couldn’t help but stumble over a few words when he was describing the Weeping Angels._

_“Doctor, what do we do?” Hajime asked._

_“We better get back to the Tardis and—Oh no…”_

_“Doctor?” Hajime asked, keeping his eyes trained on the Weeping Angels. “Doctor, you turned around. What happened?”_

_“There are more of them. Behind us,” Oikawa said gravely. “Are you still keeping your eyes on them, Iwa-chan?”_

_“Yes,” Hajime nodded._

_“Okay, we’re going to walk back to the Tardis_ while _still keeping our eyes on them, alright? This is the only way,” Oikawa said, as he took a careful step towards their ‘Tardis’ which was actually a fort made out of cushions and covered with a dark blue sheet._

_“Alright,” Hajime nodded as the two of them began to walk carefully to the Tardis. Hajime blinked once and let out yelp of surprise. “Doctor, they’re getting closer!”_

_“I’m almost there, Iwa-chan. Keep your eyes open,” Oikawa ordered as the two began to walk faster to the Tardis. “Okay, I’m right in front of the door now, Iwa-chan. I’ll go inside first but keep your eyes on them so they don’t disappear. It would be terrible if they managed to get inside the Tardis.”_

_“Yes Doctor,” Hajime nodded and felt Oikawa slip inside their Tardis._

_“Okay, Iwa-chan, back away inside and then I’ll close the door.” Hajime followed him obediently, walking backwards until he was inside the tent while keeping an eye on the Weeping Angels. And then, Oikawa closed the flap of their pillow fort Tardis._

_“Yes! We made it Iwa-chan!” Oikawa grinned. The two of them had to kneel down inside their Tardis because of how low the roof was._

_“We did it Doctor!” Hajime cheered and the two of them high-fived each other._

_“Where do we go next?” Oikawa asked._

_“Let’s go look at the dinosaurs!”_

_“Alright, dinosaurs it is,” Oikawa grinned. The two of them pretended to push some buttons and pull a few levers to get their Tardis started. “Ready?” Oikawa asked, looking directly at him with a wild look in his eyes.”_

_“Yes, Doctor,” Hajime grinned. Oikawa pulled an imaginary lever and made the sound of the Tardis rumbling to life. The two of them laughed and made the sound effects themselves as the Tardis took them through time and space._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So proud about writing this last section here. Little IwaOi playing Doctor Who is just really adorable I'm so glad I thought of it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You’re an evil mastermind, you know that?” Hajime said, smiling at him.
> 
> “I’m aware of that, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said, grinning up at him. “I am the captain of Aoba Johsai. Well, were, actually,” he said, as his smile faded. Hajime looked down. He could still see the ball falling down on their court, hear the sound that it made as it fell and rolled away. When he looked at Oikawa, it seemed as if he saw the same things he did.
> 
> “Tobio-chan and Shrimpy-chan are probably facing Ushiwaka on the court already,” Oikawa said in a much quieter voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *inhales deeply* the writer's block is strong in this one...

“Sweet, so would I. Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.” Oikawa recited his lines from his position on top of the makeshift ‘balcony,’ which was really just two desks pushed together. Hajime was kneeling down on the floor below, his head tilted upward so that his gaze met Oikawa’s. Watching him deliver all his lines perfectly while acting it out almost threw Hajime off. It was hard enough for him to memorize his own lines and act it out at the same time but seeing Oikawa do all those perfectly surely added on to the pressure that Hajime felt. But instead of cracking down under it, Hajime felt himself rising up to the challenge.

“Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow. That I shall say good night till it be morrow.” Oikawa gazed down at Hajime before blowing a kiss at him and exiting by stepping of the desks. A collective sigh was heard among the girls in his class and Hajime suppressed the urge to throw up. At least now the scene was coming to a close.

“Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest. Hence will I to my ghostly friar’s close cell, his help to crave and my dear hap to tell,” Hajime said, gazing up at the empty balcony for a few seconds before exiting. In all honesty, he had no idea if he did well or not. Compared to Oikawa, his acting was probably just sub-par and he only hoped that Nakamura would be satisfied with it. The audience was quiet for a while once the scene ended and Hajime anxiously waited for some kind of comment from their ‘director.’ But what came after caught him completely by surprise.

It started out with Matsukawa and Hanamaki clapping and cheering from the back which soon led to more clapping and cheering from his classmates. Eventually, Nakamura and even Shirokawa joined in. It was definitely not what he expected, but what really surprised Hajime was the fact that some of them were looking at him while they clapped, not just at Oikawa.

“Good job you two,” Nakamura smiled just as Oikawa wrapped an arm around Hajime’s shoulder. This time, he chose not to shove him off.

“You see, Iwa-chan!” his friend grinned. “I knew we’d do it well, even if you did kind of stink yesterday when we were practicing.”

“Shut up, Trashykawa,” Hajime said, smiling to himself despite the comment.

“Okay, everyone good work. Take a break for now,” Nakamura announced. “We’ll be doing the next scenes of Act Two tomorrow.”

“We’ll pay more attention to the marriage scene between Romeo and Julius,” Shirokawa said, flipping through pages in her clipboard. “So Oikawa, Iwaizumi, you better memorize your lines for that one. You too, Hanamaki.”

“Y-yes,” Hajime heard Hanamaki answer from the back. Matsukawa laughed and elbowed him.

“That, I can’t wait to see,” Oikawa grinned.

“Me too,” Hajime agreed. “But we have to memorize even more lines later,” he realized with a groan.

“That means I get to go to your house again, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said cheerily. Hajime swallowed and remembered the look on his mother’s face yesterday when she saw the two of them in his room. He still didn’t know why his mother acted that way but he had a feeling that if he asked her, she wouldn’t give him an answer either.

“Actually, could we do it in your house instead?” Hajime asked, realizing that that was probably the best option. His mother probably wouldn’t like the idea of that either but he could always say that he was hanging out with Hanamaki, Matsukawa and Oikawa.

“Huh? Why?” Oikawa asked.

“Well, my mom decided to do some cleaning and she’s probably going to tear the whole house apart with her broom,” Hajime lied.

“Alright then,” Oikawa shrugged.

“Hey, you two better count me in,” Hanamaki butted in. “The three of us are in the scene together and I need to memorize my lines too…”

“Fine, you can come too, Makki,” Oikawa sighed.

“Matsukawa, you better come too,” Hanamaki called over his shoulder.

“No thanks, I have to do homework,” Matsukawa replied.

“Then bring it with you. Don’t leave me with these two,” Hanamaki whined.

“Wow, I guess I’m just someone to break up the whole third wheel issue,” Matsukawa deadpanned.

“Come on. Please?” Hanamaki pleaded.

“Fine,” Matsukawa gave in. “But I’ll be videotaping the whole thing for future blackmail purposes.”

“Don’t. You. Dare.” Hajime said.

“It might come in handy, you know?” Matsukawa grinned lazily at them. “Something to have on your wedding day or something. You’ll thank me later on.”

“Oh, good thinking Mattsun,” Oikawa laughed. Hajime flushed and smacked the back of his head.

“I’d rather kiss a Dalek,” he mumbled, walking away from the group.

“I heard that Iwa-chan! That’s mean!” Oikawa yelled after him. Hajime ignored him and took a long drink from his water bottle. His throat was dry from reciting all those lines and swallowing his own saliva when he got nervous. Having to ‘project his voice,’ as instructed by Nakamura, wasn’t helping either. ‘I probably won’t have a voice anymore once this whole play is finished,’ he thought.

“Iwaizumi-san?” a soft voice called from behind him. Hajime turned around and almost choked on his water when he saw who was addressing him.

“N-natsumi-san?” he stammered, blinking his eyes twice to make sure that they weren’t deceiving him. Sure enough, it was Natsumi Kaori standing in front of him.

“Sorry, did I startle you?” she asked.

“No, not at all,” Hajime said, shaking his head a bit too quickly. Although he was pretty startled to see her since this was the first time they’ve actually talked.

“Well, I just wanted you to know that your acting there was pretty good,” she smiled, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “You actually make a pretty good Romeo.”

“Ah, thanks,” Hajime smiled. “But it wasn’t really my idea to become one in the first place. It’s that stupid Oikawa’s fault.”

“Actually, the two of you make a pretty good Romeo and Juliet pair, or should I say Romeo and Julius? The whole class seems to love it,” Natsumi chuckled.

“But it sure takes a lot of work,” Hajime sighed. “I can’t wait until it’s all over.”

“Well, I’m sure that the play will look amazing in the end. Keep up the good work, Iwaizumi-san,” she bowed slightly before leaving.

“Th-thanks… Natsumi-san…” Hajime answered back, watching her as she left.

…

“I am not going to memorize all these by tomorrow,” Hanamaki groaned as he frantically flipped through his script.

“I bet you really wish you were painting sets right now,” Matsukawa grinned as he looked over Hanamaki’s shoulder to read his script.

“How did you and Oikawa even do this?” Hanamaki asked Hajime who was seated right in front of him.

“You just have to do it,” Hajime shrugged.

“Maybe he probably has some inner talent for theatre that he hasn’t told anyone about,” Matsukawa whispered just loudly enough for everyone seated at the table to hear.

“Oh, he definitely does,” Oikawa grinned from beside Hajime. He was reading over the lines from his script while popping cookies one by one into his mouth. ‘Probably from Mayumi-chan,’ Hajime guessed as he eyed the perfectly shaped hearts the cookies were shaped into.

“Wow, a class A spiker and a talented actor,” Matsukawa grinned, raising his eyebrows at him.

“Pretty soon girls will be all over you too,” Hanamaki sighed.

“Nah, not a chance. He doesn’t really have the looks for it,” Oikawa said, waving his hand in front of him.

“As if you’re any better,” Hajime glared.

“I don’t think that’s quite true,” Matsukawa said, smiling smugly at Hajime. “Judging by the way Natsumi-san was talking to you earlier.” Hajime flushed a deep red.

“It’s one thing to be beaten by Oikawa,” Hanamaki groaned. “But _Iwa_ of all people?!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Hajime yelled. “And we didn’t even talk that much anyway…” he mumbled.

“Well, what did Natsumi- _san_ want from you anyway?” Oikawa asked him. He was smiling at Hajime but his eyes stared right at him, cold and calculating. Hajime frowned at the look on his friend’s face.

“She just complimented me on my acting back there and I said thank you. That’s all,” he explained.

“Is that so..?” Oikawa mumbled and went back to eating his cookies. “Mayumi-chan’s cookies really are good. Too bad you guys don’t get any,” he said, returning back to his Oikawa-ish self.

“Stop gloating, Oikawa,” Hanamaki rolled his eyes. “I swear to god, I’m getting a girlfriend before this school year ends.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure the girls will be all over you once they see you in that friar costume,” Matsukawa said sarcastically. The whole table, except Hanamaki who covered his face with his arms, burst into laughter.

“Don’t you think maybe we should make a bet on that?” Hajime suggested. “Whether or not Hanamaki will get a girlfriend.”

“That is a very good idea, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said. “Probably the best idea you’ve had ever since you were born.”

“Shut up, Trashykawa.”

“I agree,” Hanamaki said, grinning at the two of them. “If I get a girlfriend by the end of this year, and I know I will, you all will have to treat us to some high-class restaurant.”

“And if you don’t get a girlfriend?” Hajime asked. “What’s in it for us?”

“Then I’ll treat the three of you to barbecue,” Hanamaki said.

“Seems fair,” Matsukawa shrugged.

“Alright, let’s shake on it then,” Oikawa nodded and the four of them shook their hands on the bet.

“You better prepare your wallet, Hanamaki,” Matsukawa grinned at his friend. “I saw the costume designs for the friar guy, and you are not going to be happy.”

…

  _Hajime placed the last of his beetles inside a jar before placing the lid on. He peered at the insect inside as it flew around and gently thumped the glass. “It’s okay Kuro-chan. It’ll only take an hour for me and Oikawa to clean the tank. Just hang in there, okay?” he whispered before tucking the jar safely under his desk among the other jars full of beetles. Hajime covered the sight with a blanket before walking to the door._

_“It’s okay, you can come in now,” he said as he opened the door. Oikawa was seated against the wall outside, fiddling around with his Sonic Screwdriver._

_“Where did you put them, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa asked as he stood up and poked his head through the doorway, warily scanning the room._

_“They’re under my desk, don’t worry,” Hajime sighed. “Just don’t lift the blanket.”_

_“Okay,” Oikawa nodded and went inside the room, keeping his eyes on the desk inside. Hajime rolled his eyes and pulled his friend by the arm to where his beetle tank was on a stand beside his bed._

_“Just help me empty out all the food dishes first and the shed beetle skins,” Hajime ordered him as he kneeled in front of the tank and began cleaning it out._

_“Ew, this looks gross.” Oikawa made a face as he picked up a shed beetle skin._

_“Just imagine it as an alien egg or something,” Hajime said, thrusting a plastic bag towards him to place the beetle skin in._

_“It doesn’t look like an alien egg,” Oikawa frowned as he placed the skin in the plastic and reached into the tank to get more._

_“How do you know? Have you seen one?”_

_“No,” Oikawa pouted. “But I read this book that said alien eggs had a shell that was as thick as a rock and probably twice as hard, to protect it from the harsh environment of their planet. Also, when it begins to hatch, the glow coming from inside throws through the cracks. So I’m pretty sure beetle skins don’t look like alien eggs.”_

_“Whatever you say, Oikawa,” Hajime sighed and rolled his eyes. As soon as the two of them finished clearing the tank, Hajime left to get water for the plants inside and some food for the beetles. While he was doing that, Oikawa rearranged the books on his shelf. His room was full of bookshelves that he liked to arrange himself so rearranging Hajime’s bookshelf was no big deal to him._

_“There, I’m done Iwa-chan,” Oikawa grinned once he finished his job._

_“Great, thanks Oikawa,” Hajime said as he sprinkled water in the tank. “I’m going to start putting the beetles back in a while so you can stay outside if you want to.”_

_“Actually, before you do that, I brought you something,” Oikawa said shyly._

_“Hmm? What is it?” Iwaizumi asked. Oikawa smiled and left the room, bringing his backpack along with him when he entered. He unzipped the bag on the floor and brought before pulling out a jar. Inside was a beetle with a shiny back that changed color from gold to green in the light. Hajime gasped and took the jar from Oikawa to have a closer look._

_“Cool, isn’t it?” Oikawa grinned as he watched his friend admire his gift._

_“Uh huh,” Hajime nodded, eyes still fixated on the beetle. “Where did you find it?”_

_“On my windowsill,” Oikawa answered. “I had to use my Sonic Screwdriver to lure it inside before I put in a jar. I guess the screwdriver really does work.”_

_“It works on beetles, but not on wood,” Hajime grinned. “Thanks Oikawa!”_

_“You’re welcome, Iwa-chan!”_

…

“Do you guys think it’s too late for me to drop-out from my friar role?” Hanamaki asked as the four of them made their way downstairs to their shoe locker.

“Well you don’t really have an understudy for that role so there’s no other Friar Lawrence if you decide to drop-out,” Matsukawa answered.

“And I doubt Nakamura would like you to drop-out of your role either,” Hajime added as he opened his shoe locker to take his shoes out.

“Come on, Makki, do it for the play. For our class,” Oikawa begged.

“It’s all Iwa’s fault!” Hanamaki cried as he hit his head against the lockers. Hajime ignored him as he put on his shoes.

“Well, I wouldn’t have made you Friar Lawrence if you didn’t make Oikawa Julius,” he stated simply.

“But what about Matsukawa?”

“My talent lies elsewhere,” Matsukawa said. “And stop your whining. Just do it and get it over with.”

“Easy for you to say,” Hanamaki grumbled as he tugged his shoes on. “Can we pass by the convenience store for drinks before heading to Oikawa’s.”

“Yeah why not?” Oikawa shrugged. “I’ll buy some more of that green tea drink I had the other day.”

“You mean that crap?” Hajime said as the four of them began to leave. “Why do you even like that?”

“It has a lot of health benefits,” Oikawa explained. “The antioxidants in the te— Oh hey, Shigeru-chan.” Hajime looked over his shoulder after Oikawa’s explanation was interrupted by him bumping into Yahaba.

“Oh, s-sorry Oikawa-senpai. I wasn’t watching where I was going,” Yahaba apologized.

“Hey, Yahaba,” Hajime greeted as he came up beside Oikawa. “Are you alright?” he asked. Yahaba was clutching a sheet of paper in front of him that almost matched the color of his face.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine Iwaizumi-senpai,” Yahaba nodded.

“You’re as pale as a sheet, Yahaba,” Hanamaki observed.

“What’s that in your hands?” Oikawa asked. Yahaba said nothing and merely gave him the paper. Hajime, Matsukawa, and Hanamaki all crowded around Oikawa to view the paper. The words ‘Thank you for helping me back there’ were spelled out using letters cut-out from magazines and pasted on the white paper.

“Is this… a ransom note?” Matsukawa asked after a few beats of silence.

“I don’t think ransom notes say ‘Thank you for helping me back there,’” Hanamaki argued.

“Well, maybe ‘Thank you for helping me back there’ means something else. Like something bad,” Hajime added.

“Do you really think Yahaba would do something bad?” Hanamaki asked.

“Ah, you’re right,” Hajime nodded. “But isn’t this what criminals usually do in movies when they want to blackmail other people?”

“Yeah, to conceal their identity,” Matsukawa said. “Do you have an idea as to who sent this to you?” he asked Yahaba.

“No, I just saw it in my shoe locker,” Yahaba shook his head. “And I don’t even know what it means.”

“It’s obviously a love letter of some sort,” Oikawa finally spoke up, folding up the paper neatly and giving it back to Yahaba. “Make sure you treasure it, okay Shigeru-chan?” he smiled and patted the head of his kouhai before walking away, leaving a puzzled Yahaba behind.

“Hold on, what do you mean by love letter?” Hajime asked, catching up to Oikawa.

“For someone who gets a lot of them, you sure don’t seem to know how a love letter looks like it,” Hanamaki said. “Because last time I’ve heard, love letters aren’t made with cut-outs of letters from magazines.”

“Well, maybe the one who made it was really shy,” Matsukawa shrugged. “She did go through all that trouble of cutting out those letters so maybe she just doesn’t want Yahaba to find out about her.”

“Bingo, Mattsun!” Oikawa grinned, pointing a finger gun at his friend.

“Really? I didn’t think of it that way,” Hanamaki said. Hajime looked at the sly grin on his friend’s face.

“I take it you know who the person who sent that letter is,” he said, looking at Oikawa.

“Yup!” he grinned.

“Who is it then?” Matsukawa asked.

“It’s. A. Secret,” Oikawa winked and put a finger to his lips.

“Haaa? Come on, now I really want to know,” Hanamaki whined. “Don’t keep us in suspense like this.”

“Well, I have a feeling Yahaba will find out who it is too eventually,” Oikawa smiled. “So no, not telling yet.” Hajime sighed and shook his head while Hanamaki continued to beg Oikawa for the answer. He knew that he would never yield. ‘I guess I’ll just have to wait and find out,’ he thought.

…

The four of them sat cross-legged around the small table in Oikawa’s room with their scripts laid out in front of them, pages turned to Act 2, Scene 6, the scene wherein Friar Lawrence marries Romeo and Julius. Hanamaki had his head bent over his script, despite Matsukawa’s attempts to grab it from him so that he could learn and memorize his lines properly. Hajime glanced down at his from time to time while Oikawa leaned back slightly on his elbows, hardly looking at the script at all.

“So smile… the heavens upon this holy act. That sorrow chide us not,” Hanamaki recited his lines as Matsukawa held his script away from him.

“Wrong. It’s ‘That after-hours with sorrow chide us not,” Matsukawa corrected him.

“Well how the hell was I supposed to know that?” Hanamaki cried. “You have my script.”

“That’s the whole point, Makki,” Oikawa rolled his eyes. “You’re supposed to memorize it.”

“But I _can’t_ ,” Hanamaki said. “I don’t even know what any of it means.”

“Same here,” Hajime raised his hand.

“Then how the fuck did you do it?” Hanamaki asked.

“Just read it again and again,” Hajime shrugged.

“That’s _super_ helpful.”

“Hey, does anyone remember the quadratic formula?” Matsukawa asked, looking up from his math homework.

“Negative b plus or minus the square root of b square minus four ac over 2a,” Hanamaki recited without looking up from the table.

“How can you memorize math formulas that easily?” Hajime groaned. Hanamaki was the one in their group who had the highest math and physics scores, only a small fraction higher than Oikawa’s of course.

“I’m good with numbers,” Hanamaki shrugged.

“Yes he is,” Oikawa said, a sly grin plastered on his face. “I wonder how that can help…” Realization dawned on Matsukawa’s face and he reached for Hanamaki’s script and a mechanical pencil.

“Hanamaki, what other formulas do you remember?” he asked, pencil poised at ready to write. Hanamaki looked at him with a puzzled expression his face before the realization hit him as well.

“Volume of similar figures,” he said and recited the formula. He recited formula after formula while Matsukawa wrote it down in sections on his script while Hajime watched. He turned to Oikawa who was calmly sipping his tea while flipping through his script.

“You’re an evil mastermind, you know that?” Hajime said, smiling at him.

“I’m aware of that, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said, grinning up at him. “I am the captain of Aoba Johsai. Well, were, actually,” he said, as his smile faded. Hajime looked down. He could still see the ball falling down on their court, hear the sound that it made as it fell and rolled away. When he looked at Oikawa, it seemed as if he saw the same things he did.

“Tobio-chan and Shrimpy-chan are probably facing Ushiwaka on the court already,” Oikawa said in a much quieter voice.

“You remember the date they’re supposed to go head to head?” Hajime asked.

“Remember? How could I forget, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa said, smiling grimly at his friend.

“Yeah, thought so…” Hajime nodded.

“Ahhh!! I don’t what’s worse. If Tobio-chan wins he’ll boast about it to no end,” Oikawa whined.

“I don’t think Kageyama’s the type to do that…” Hajime said.

“And if Ushiwaka wins he’ll definitely gloat about it and I can’t have that especially after saying this cool speech about Tobio-chan being able to beat him in their next game,” Oikawa continued, ignoring Hajime’s previous comment.

“Just who do you want to win anyway?” Hajime sighed and took another sip of the cold coffee drink he bought.

“Hey, I saw the commercial for that one on TV,” Oikawa said, pointing at the drink.

“Yeah, it’s pretty good,” Hajime shrugged, setting the can down on the table.

“Can I taste?” Without waiting for Hajime’s consent, Oikawa took the can of coffee from the table and took a sip from it.

“Sure, you can have a drink,” Hajime rolled his eyes at him.

“Hmmm… it does taste pretty good,” Oikawa nodded, setting the can back on the table. “Thanks Iwa-chan.” Hajime glanced at the can of coffee and swallowed, looking away.

“Actually, you can have it,” he said.

“Really? Are you sure?”

“Yeah!” Hajime said a little too loudly. “It’s better than that green tea crap you keep on drinking.”

“Thanks Iwa-chan,” Oikawa sang as he took another sip from the can of coffee. Hajime watched him out of the corner of his eye as he drank. He didn’t know what just got into him. Being childhood friends for the longest time, he and Oikawa didn’t mind drinking from the same bottle or glass. They even took bites from each other’s food most of the time. Hajime never minded it that much. But for some reason, he felt uncomfortable with the idea of drinking from the same place Oikawa’s lips had been.

…

_“Dad! Dad! Is the telescope ready yet?” Oikawa asked as he leaned closer to his father._

_“Not yet, Tooru,” he chuckled. “I’m still adjusting the lens a bit more.”_

_“Okay,” Oikawa sighed and left his father who was still busy adjusting the different knobs on the telescope while he peered through the lens._

_“Come on and have a s’more while waiting, Tooru-chan,’ his mother called from the small campfire she made. Hajime was sitting on the ground in front of it, already munching on a s’more. Oikawa went over and sat beside him. It was his birthday and true enough, his father gave him a telescope as a present. The Oikawa family invited Hajime over for his birthday and decided to have a camp-out in their backyard._

_“Be careful, it’s hot,” his mother reminded him as she placed a warm s’more in his hand. Oikawa raised it to his mouth and took a large bite out of it._

_“Ah! Hot!” he cried out, as the hot marshmallow burnt his tongue._

_“She told you it was hot,” Hajime pointed out as he licked some melted marshmallow off his fingers._

_“I know…” Oikawa pouted as he took another careful bite out of his s’more. Bit by bit, he finished off his s’more and before he could ask his mother for a second one, his father called to him._

_“Tooru, it’s ready!”_

_“Really!” Oikawa stood up and ran over to where his father was standing. Hajime stood up as well and wiped off his hands as he followed his friend._

_“It sure is,” his father smiled and ruffled at him. “Here, have a look.” Oikawa walked towards the telescope and peered through the lens. He gasped aloud when he saw a close-up look of the planet Mars through the telescope. It looked as if it was near enough to grab with his hands._

_“That looks awesome!” he exclaimed, smiling up at his father. “Thanks Dad!”_

_“You’re welcome,” he smiled back, ruffling his son’s hair. “Now go and enjoy yourself, kiddo. And don’t forget to let Iwa-chan have a turn, okay?” He left and walked back to the campfire where his wife offered him a s’more._

_“Here, Iwa-chan. Look!” Oikawa said, stepping away from the telescope to let his friend have a look. Hajime bent down and peered through the lens of the telescope._

_“Wow…” he breathed out. “It looks really close. Like it’s heading straight for the Earth or something…”_

_“Yeah! Hey, let’s look at Jupiter or something,” Oikawa said, peering through the lens and moving the telescope. “Jupiter-chan, where are you..?” he sang. Hajime shook his head and smiled down at him._

_“Tooru-chan,” his mother called as she walked towards the two of them. “Your father and I are going to head upstairs now. The tent’s all set up now so you can just head inside when you’re finished.”_

_“Alright, thanks Mom,” Oikawa smiled, hugging his mother at the waist._

_“Sure, dear. Happy Birthday,” she said, planting a kiss on his forehead. “There are more s’mores inside the tent too, Hajime-chan.”_

_“Thanks Auntie,” Hajime smiled._

_“Alright, good night you two,” his mother waved before walking back into the house with her husband. Oikawa went back to his telescope, moving it this way and that as he searched for Jupiter. Knowing that his friend would be at it for some time, Hajime decided to lie down on the grass while waiting for him._

_‘I wonder how Mars would like if it was as near as the moon,” Hajime thought as he gazed up at the sky. ‘Maybe it’ll also look like the moon, only redder.’ He was trying to visualize the sight in his head when suddenly, a small, floating ball of blinking light passed over his head. Hajime immediately sat up and watched as it landed on a blade of grass, blinking its yellow light. There were even more of them by the bushes in the backyard._

_“A firefly!” he cried, tugging on Oikawa’s t-shirt. “And look, even more fireflies.” Oikawa turned around and Hajime pointed at the bushes._

_“Woah! You’re right!” Oikawa exclaimed, running towards that direction with Hajime trailing behind him. He ran, trying to chase one of them and when it was near, he clapped his hands together quickly._

_“Aw, I didn’t catch it…” he said, looking down at his empty hands._

_“That’s not how you catch fireflies,” Hajime shook his head at him. “You’ll crush them in your hands if you clap. You’re supposed to do it like this…” He crept around the bushes, eyes focused on a firefly flying right in front of him. It stopped on a leaf and Hajime gently caught in his cupped hands._

_“You got it?” Oikawa said, eyes widening in awe. Hajime peered through the crack in his fingers and spotted the blinking glow of the firefly inside._

_“Sure did!” he grinned at Oikawa. “Here, cup your hands like this.” Oikawa did as he was told and Hajime gently transferred the firefly inside his friend’s cupped hands._

_“Whoa… It’s like holding a star in my hand,” Oikawa breathed out as he peered into a small gap in his hands._

_“Yeah, it’s pretty isn’t it?” Hajime grinned as he watched his friend. “In my grandparents’ house in the countryside there are almost a million fireflies. I like to catch them and put them in jars and then let them go.”_

_“I wish you could do that with stars…” Oikawa said softly. He opened his hands and watched as the firefly flew out. “Bye, firefly.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed this (even though it is late...)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hajime looked up at Oikawa who was laughing and teasing Hanamaki for his acting. Out of the three of them, he was the one who received no comments from Nakamura about his acting. He looked completely unfazed by everything which pissed Hajime off but at the same time made him uneasy. ‘I can’t be the only one between the two of us feeling this, right?’ he thought as he watched his friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the really late post! My internet has been pretty bad lately :(( but I made two new chapters that I hope you guys enjoy...

“Alright, is everyone here already?” Shirokawa asked, surveying the classroom full of students. The front part near the blackboard was set up to look like a rough version of the stage. The actors and a few set designers were gathered there. Nakamura’s ‘Director’s Seat’ was placed in front of the makeshift stage. The costume designers and set workers were situated in the opposite part of the room.

“Yup, I think so,” Nakamura shrugged. “But anyway, we have to start doing the scene. Actors, on stage please.”

“Hold on, just a few more measurements, Daiki-chan,” Oikawa called. He and Hajime were having their measurements taken for the costumes they were going to wear.

“Alright then. Don’t call me Daiki-chan either,” Nakamura frowned. “Where’s Hanamaki?”

“Here!” Hanamaki answered. He was leaning against the wall, talking to Matsukawa as he worked painting the leaves of a tree.

“Did you memorize your lines?” Hajime asked.

“Of course! Leave it to me!” Hanamaki grinned and flashed a thumbs-up as he walked over to them.

“Matsukawa, did Hanamaki memorize his lines?” Nakamura asked.

“Yeah, I made sure of that,” Matsukawa said, not looking up from his work.

“How come Nakamura trusts Matsukawa more than me?” Hanamaki whispered as he leaned against the wall next to Hajime.

“I’d trust Matsukawa more than you, actually,” Hajime confessed.

“Same here,” Oikawa added.

“Some friends you guys are,” Hanamaki grumbled.

“Alright, all done,” Mitsuko said, rolling up the tape measure after taking Hajime’s measurements.

“Okay, time to go on stage, Iwa-chan, Mattsun,” Oikawa said as he strode over to the stage. Hajime and Hanamaki positioned themselves near the center as well.

“Nakamura-san, Shirokawa-san, I have the costume designs already,” Mitsuko said, walking over to the two of them with her notebook. The three of them bent down to look at the designs and Hajime wondered how his costume was going to look like. He knew for a fact that it wouldn’t be as bad as Hanamaki’s but he hoped it didn’t involve leggings or anything tight either.

“You designed a costume for Natsumi as well?” Shirokawa asked.

“Yeah, I did,” Mitsuko nodded. “I know she’s the understudy but she should also have a costume, just in case.”

“I see, that’s true,” Shirokawa nodded, frowning slightly.

“H-how does my costume look like?” Hanamaki asked anxiously. Nakamura looked up at him and closed the notebook shut.

“It looks pretty good. Perfect for your character,” he smiled. “Thank you very much for your work Mitsuko. The designs were made well,” he said, handing the notebook back to Mitsuko.

“Thank you very much. I’ll start working on them this weekend,” Mitsuko bowed and headed over to where the other costume designers were.

“Nakamura’s a sadist,” Hanamaki whispered to Hajime.

“You’re only noticing that now?” Hajime whispered back.

“Alright, positions now,” Nakamura said, leaning back in his Director’s Chair with one leg crossed over the other. His positioned reminded Hajime of supervillains from movies. All he was missing was a black cat on his lap.

“Friar Lawrence, stand right in the middle, behind Romeo and Julius. Romeo and Julius kneel down facing each other. Romeo, you can hold Julius’s hands and make sure to act,” Nakamura ordered. Hajime sighed and got into position. Oikawa smiled cheekily at him as the two of them held hands and Hajime swore he was going to dash his head against the wall once everything was over. But for now, he had to be Romeo.

…

“Excellent, great job guys,” Nakamura smiled and clapped once the scene was over. The rest of the class watching clapped their hands as well once the scene ended. Hajime sighed and sat down on the floor, his legs aching from kneeling throughout the whole scene while Nakamura gave feedback on their acting. Oikawa sat down as well in front of him.

“Great acting, Iwa-chan,” he smiled. “You know, I almost believed every word you said back there.”

“Shut up, Trashykawa,” Hajime said, lifting his leg to push Oikawa away. “And don’t sit that close to me.”

“Man, I’m tired,” Hanamaki groaned, sitting next to them as well.

“Hey, good job memorizing those lines,” Nakamura said. “The three of you can take a break now.”

“Thank god,” Hanamaki sighed. Hajime silently agreed with him. Even though the three of them did memorize all their lines, it took quite a long time for them to do the scene. Hanamaki could barely act and he only pulled it together during the last few retakes. Hajime was off his game too, which was a surprise to him considering the fact that he did well in the last scenes. But something about being so close to Oikawa as they acted out the marriage of their characters unnerved Hajime. Having to hold his hands made it worse.

Hajime looked up at Oikawa who was laughing and teasing Hanamaki for his acting. Out of the three of them, he was the one who received no comments from Nakamura about his acting. He looked completely unfazed by everything which pissed Hajime off but at the same time made him uneasy. ‘I can’t be the only one between the two of us feeling this, right?’ he thought as he watched his friend.

“Sexual tension.”

Hajime jumped about a foot in the air before turning around to find Matsukawa crouched on the floor behind him. “Matsukawa, what the fuck?!” he yelled.

“What? I was just commenting on that scene you guys acted out back there,” Matsukawa smirked at Hajime. “What did you think I was talking about?”

“I don’t know, the relationship between you and Hanamaki maybe?” Hajime shrugged.

“Last time I’ve heard, friars aren’t supposed to have sexual relations. Especially not with guys,” Matsukawa said as he sat down on the floor beside Hajime.

“Hey, hey Mattsun. Like my acting?” Oikawa winked and flashed a peace sign.

“Sure, whatever,” Matsukawa said monotonously.

“Mean! You could at least praise me or something,” Oikawa pouted.

“You’ve already got a team of girls to do that for you,” Hanamaki said.

“Don’t worry. You’ll get your team of girls soon,” Hajime snickered. “By the way, how did you memorize all those lines?”

“Matsukawa helped me out,” Hanamaki answered. “He wrote down a math formula per section of lines that I had to do. So whenever I forgot a line, he would tell me the formula that he wrote on top of it and then I’d remember better.”

“That’s a weird way of doing it but at least you got it,” Hajime shrugged.

“Yeah, we’ve been at it all night,” Hanamaki grinned. A beat of silence came over them until Oikawa spoke up.

“That’s what she said.”

Hajime, Matsukawa, and Oikawa threw back their heads as they silently burst into laughter. Hanamaki flushed a deep red and punched Oikawa on the shoulder.

“Shut up! That’s not what I meant!” he yelled. Hajime grinned and punched Matsukawa lightly on the shoulder.

“That’s some sexual tension right there,” he said.

“Tell me about it,” Matsukawa smiled and shook his head.

…

“Thanks for the food,” Hajime said, taking his chopsticks. They were having chicken teriyaki for dinner, his father’s favorite since they were celebrating a new promotion at his job.

“How was your day, dear?” his mother asked him as she set glasses of water on the table.

“Oh, it was fine,” Hajime shrugged. “We did more scenes for the play.”

“The play, huh?” his dad nodded, as he took a sip of water.

“How’s the play going? You’ve been spending quite a lot of time memorizing your lines,” his mother said.

“Well so far, Nakamura, our director, seems to like my acting. But Oikawa’s still better though,” Hajime answered. “We might need to practice more during the weekend since Nakamura wants us to finish up the rest of the scenes.”

“Oh about that…” his father put down his glass and smiled up at him. “I got two tickets for the volleyball game on Saturday. The Giants are playing and I thought the two of us could go together.”

“The Giants? How did you get those?” Hajime asked, staring at his father in a mixture of disbelief and pure awe.

“Well since I got a promotion I thought I could celebrate a little,” his father shrugged. “And the Giants were playing this Saturday so I thought, ‘Why not?’”

“And you two need to spend some more time together, and out of the house,” his mother nodded. “I’m the one who needs some time away from you two.”

“Dad, that’s awesome,” Hajime grinned.

“So, are we good for Saturday? You don’t have any major tests or projects coming up, right?”

“Yeah, I’m good for the week,” Hajime said. “I’ll just ask Oikawa if we can still practice on Sunday.” His father stared at him for a few moments before nodding and looking down at his dinner.

“Sure, sure,” he said. “I mean, the play still is pretty important.”

“But be home early on Sunday, okay?” his mother reminded, squeezing his hand.

“Of course,” Hajime nodded, going back to his dinner. “But it’s going to be hard to focus on the play now that we’re watching the Giants game soon.”

“You bet it is,” his father agreed.

…

_“Hajime, what time is it?” his father asked over the noise coming from the microwave as he popped popcorn._

_“Ummm… two fifty-nine…” Hajime said, trying to read the wall clock in the living room. He was seated on the couch in front of TV watching cartoons._

_“Shoot, can you switch it to channel eight?” The microwave rang and the smell of popcorn soon filled the house. Hajime’s mouth watered at the smell._

_“But I’m watching…” he pouted._

_“Well we’re going to watch something better,” his father said, sitting down on the couch with a bowl of popcorn on his lap._

_“Fine.” Hajime gave in and changed the channel._

_“Just in time,” his father grinned, offering the bowl of popcorn to Hajime after taking some himself._

_“Is this another volleyball game?” Hajime asked, taking some popcorn as he watched TV._

_“It’s not just ‘another volleyball game.’ It’s the championship finals between the Giants and the Volcanoes,” his father answered. “Two teams from two different parts of Japan. Each with their own unique players and skill sets. It’s amazing. The ‘Game of the Century’ probably.”_

_“I’m going over to Oikawa’s place,” Hajime said, standing up. His father raised a leg to block him._

_“Oh no you won’t,” he shook his head. “You’re going to stay and watch this super awesome game with me and you won’t regret it.”_

_“But it’s boring,” Hajime whined._

_“You won’t be saying that in just a few minutes. Just you wait.” His father offered him some more popcorn. “Come on, if you stay I’ll make you another bowl of popcorn. Barbecue flavored.” Hajime mulled this over in his head and decided that it was a good deal._

_“Alright then,” he nodded and took some more popcorn. His father was right though. After only a few minutes, Hajime had his full attention on the game. The bowl of popcorn lay empty between the two of them on the couch, none of them bothering to refill it. Hajime didn’t even care about getting the barbecue popcorn. All he cared about was whether or not the Giants would be able to win the game._

_“The ball is about to hit the court and oh! Libero Nanahara from the Giants saves it!” the sports announcer said._

_“Yes!” Hajime and his father chorused, eyes still glued to the TV. Hajime was already kneeling over the couch’s edge._

_“The ball goes to Setter Fujisaki who does that trademark lightning-fast toss to Spiker Kurozawa and oh! THE BALL LANDS ON THE COURT. THE BALL LANDS ON THE COURT. THE GIANTS WIN!!!!”_

_“YESSSSS!” Hajime’s father cheers as he stands up from the couch in excitement._

_“Woah!” Hajime loses his balance over the edge of the couch and falls over face-first on the floor._

_“Hajime!” his father yells and immediately pulls his son up. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” he asks, checking his son for any bruises on his face._

_“Dad…” Hajime replies dazedly. A small trickle of blood runs down his nose. But despite that, he looks up at his father and smiles._

_“I want to play volleyball.”_

….

“It’s pretty crowded here, isn’t it?” Hajime observed as the two of them walked through the masses of people to get to their seats.

“What? Are you thinking of backing out already?” his dad teased.

“Not a chance,” Hajime shook his head and grinned. The two of them finally found their seats and sat down. They were seated at a good distance away from the court, right near the area where the Giants would be playing. Hajime and his father exchanged excited smiles. Ever since his father got him into volleyball, the two of them had been watching matches on television. Now, they got to live their dream of being able to see one live.

“You got some really good seats here, Dad,” Hajime said once the match began.

“Yeah, definitely worth the pay,” his father agreed, popping a few pieces of popcorn in his mouth. As per tradition, the two of them got barbecue-flavored popcorn. Right now, it was the Giant’s turn to serve. The two of them leaned closer and watched as Kurosawa, the middle blocker, performed a deadly jump serve that landed on the other team’s court.

“Woah, it looks so much better in real life…” Hajime sighed as Kurosawa got ready for another serve.

“It does…” his father nodded. “Hey, when you get your first paycheck, it’s your turn to buy the tickets. Deal?”

“I think it’ll take a lot more than my first paycheck to get tickets to a game,” Hajime said.

“Fine, I’ll buy the tickets. But you’ll have to buy the popcorn,” his father said. “Deal?”

“Deal,” Hajime shook his head and smiled. The two of them went back to watching the game and just like Hajime had hoped, they were able to see the lightning-fast quick of the Giant’s new duo, Setter Koharu and Spiker Kiriyama in real life. Hajime felt a small pang in his chest, it reminded him a lot of Karasuno’s killer quick with Kageyama and Hinata. He wondered, with a small degree of satisfaction, if Ushijima was also surprised but that quick.

“Woah! Did you see that Hajime?! That looks so much better in real life!” his father cheered.

“Dad, you’re too loud,” Hajime hissed. His father paid no attention to him as he watched the Giants cheer and high-five each other. However, the grin soon disappeared from his face when Koharu and Kiriyama kissed each other right in the middle of their court while the other players cheered around them. His father, however, stopped his cheering and a dark look came over his face.

“Dad..?” Hajime asked, placing a hand on his arm.

“I’m getting some more soda,” his father said, standing up quickly.

“A-alright” Hajime nodded, spying the still-full bottle of soda on his seat. His father didn’t look at him as he made his way out, leaving Hajime alone to watch the game. The team went back into their positions. It was Koharu’s turn to serve the ball. But Hajime wasn’t paying that much attention to the game anymore as his thoughts lay heavily in his mind. He knew now what it all meant. The way his parents glanced at each other during dinnertime whenever Hajime talked about the play. The way his mother reacted when she saw him and Oikawa alone in a room together. The way his father walked out once he saw Koharu and Kiriyama kiss. His parents were homophobic. And now they were afraid about their son being gay.

…

His father returned after quite a bit of time with another bottle of soda. But his mood was much different now than it was before. He didn’t cheer or yell or pull Hajime’s arm whenever the Giants nailed a serve. Not even when their pinch server Tenma scored eight points in a row. He just sat back in his seat with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. Hajime didn’t bother trying to speak to him.

“Hajime, I’m just going to the bathroom, okay?” his father said while the two of them were making their way out once the game ended. It ended with the Giants winning, of course, but his father decided to leave once the score was decided.

“Sure, I’ll just wait over here, okay?” Hajime said. His father left and he stood by the wall near the entrance. He took his phone out of his pocket and called Oikawa.

“Hello, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa greeted cheerily over the phone. Hajime smiled slightly.

“Hey, um about tomorrow… I don’t think I can go,” he said, biting his lip.

“Huh? How come?” Oikawa asked.

“Well, my mom has some relatives she’d like to visit on Sunday,” Hajime lied. “So I kinda have to go. You know, family stuff?” He squeezed his eyes, hoping that Oikawa would buy his lie because based on past experiences, his friend was pretty good at being able to tell if he was lying or not.

“Is that so? Well, alright then. I guess we just have to memorize on or own,” Oikawa said. Hajime let out a breath of relief.

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

“That’s okay. I’ll just spend the whole day with Sakura-chan.”

“S-sakura-chan?” Hajime asked, feeling a huge weight drop in his stomach.

“Yeah. She’s really cute. I named her Sakura-chan because I found her in a box under a cherry blossom tree earlier.”

“Wait, what? Sakura-chan’s a…”

“A puppy,” Oikawa finished.

“Ah, so it’s a puppy after all,” Hajime said, heaving out a sigh of relief.

“Yup, I’ll take her on a walk tomorrow at a park. I guess I’ll see you on Monday then, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said.

“’Yeah. See you,” Hajime said and hung up. He leaned back against the wall with his hands in his pockets. ‘Why did I feel so worried that Sakura-chan was a girl?’ he wondered. He should probably not be all that surprised if she did turn out to be one. Oikawa was Oikawa after all.

“Hey, Romeo-san.”

Hajime looked up to find Natsumi, of all people, waving at him. She was wearing a Giants t-shirt and jeans with a matching Giants cap. Hajime thought she looked good, especially since she was wearing sports merchandise. She waved at him and walked over, causing multiple heads to turn in their direction.

“Natsumi-san, hi…” Hajime smiled, suddenly noticing that all eyes were on him as well.

“So you came to watch the match too,” she smiled.

“Yeah,” Hajime nodded. “I see that you’re a really big fan of the Giants,” he said, pointing at her t-shirt.

“Of course. They’re the best team out there. I’ve been to all of their games.”

“Hey, Kaori. That’s where you are.” A short girl pushed her way through the crowd and appeared right beside Natsumi. She was wearing a red flannel top, jeans, and a plain baseball cap. Hajime recognized the bright red hair and took a step closer.

“Shirokawa?” he said. Shirokawa looked at him in surprise.

“I-Iwaizumi?” she said.

“Sorry, Ai. I saw Iwaizumi-san here so I came over,” Natsumi apologized.

“You like watching too?” Hajime asked.

“No. I was just dragged over here,” Shirokawa huffed, not looking at Hajime. “I’ll go ahead now. See you.” She pulled the visor of her cap down and made her way through the crowd.

“Wait, Ai!” Natsumi called after her but Shirokawa didn’t come back. “Sorry, she’s just mad that I dragged her over to watch a game. She’ll probably go back to studying right now,” she smiled apologetically.

“No, it’s alright,” Hajime waved it off. He was still a little surprised at the fact that he not only saw Natsumi here but Shirokawa as well. He didn’t even know that the two of them were friends either. Usually Natsumi hung out with Mitsuko while Shirokawa was with Nakamura.

“Hajime, we have to pass by the grocery later. You’re mom wants us to buy some stuff for dinner,” his father said, appearing from the crowd and walking over to them. He looked up from his phone and found Natsumi and his son talking.

“Hey dad,” Hajime said, somewhat shyly.

“Hey, who’s this?” his father asked, looking at Natsumi.

“This is Natsumi, from my class,” Hajime introduced.

“It’s nice to meet you sir,” Natsumi bowed.

“Nice to meet you too,” his father nodded. “I see you’re a Giants fan as well,” he added, pointing at her t-shirt.

“Yup. And a very proud one at that,” Natsumi smiled. “How did you like the game earlier?”

“Well, I’ve seen better,” his father shrugged. “But this one wasn’t so bad. Are you also in the play my son’s been talking about?”

“Oh, yes I am,” Natsumi nodded. “I’m the understudy for Juliet. Your son makes a really good Romeo.”

“Not really…” Hajime scratched the back of his head, flushing slightly.

“Just the understudy? I’m sure you’d make an excellent Juliet,” his father said.

“No, I can’t possibly fill Oikawa-san’s shoes,” Natsumi waved and shook her head.

“But at least Juliet will still remain a Juliet,” his father chuckled. “Well, Hajime and I better be off. I hope to see you soon, Natsumi-san.”

“You too sir,” Natsumi bowed slightly and turned to Hajime. “See you on Monday, Romeo-san.”

“See you,” Hajime waved before leaving the stadium with his father.

“She seems like a nice girl,” he said out loud as they walked to the car.

“Yeah. And she likes the Giants too,” Hajime grinned. “Oh and about tomorrow, Oikawa said he was busy so I can’t memorize lines with him.”

“Well, that’s good then,” his father said, smiling at him. “Time for you to stop hanging out with guys so much, you know?” He opened the door of his car and went inside.

“Yeah…” Hajime nodded before getting in the car as well. His father’s words hung heavily in the air but Hajime made no effort to deny any of them.

…

_“Iwa-chan, what are you doing?” Oikawa asked as he watched his friend drag a pole with a net attached to it across the ground._

_“Setting up the court. What does it look like?” Hajime answered, gritting his teeth as he positioned the heavy pole. After hearing him say that he wanted to play volleyball, Hajime’s father quickly bought him a volleyball net and a volleyball so that he could practice. However, he wasn’t around to set the net up so Hajime had to do it all by himself in the backyard._

_“I don’t want to play volleyball, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa whined, drawing on the ground with a pointed stick. “It looks hard.”_

_“That’s why we’re going to try it out first, Oikawa.” Hajime grunted and finally heaved the pole in place. He then went over to the other side to set the other pole in place. “You could at least try to help me out, you know?”_

_“I want to play Doctor Who,” Oikawa pouted. “And I did help. I’ve been looking up volleyball moves on my computer last night.”_

_“Don’t worry Oikawa, you’ll like volleyball too soon enough once we get pretty good at it,” Hajime said, digging the last pole in place. He stood back to admire his handiwork. The net stretched over the two poles planted firmly in place. “Get over here, Oikawa. And take the ball with you,” he ordered. Oikawa grumbled but stood up and brought the ball over to the court with him nonetheless._

_“Here,” Oikawa tossed the ball over to Hajime who caught it with his hands._

_“Alright. You learned a bunch of moves from the computer, right?”_

_“Yeah,” Oikawa nodded and straightened the glasses on his face._

_“Okay, I want to learn how to spike first! I want to spike like Kurozawa from the Giants!” Hajime cheered, spiking the air with his hands._

_“Silly Iwa-chan. You’re supposed to start with the basic moves first. Spiking is too advanced,” Oikawa sighed. “We could start with passing and receiving first.”_

_“That’s boring,” Hajime huffed. “But I guess we should start with it first.”_

_“Okay so first you have to get into a stance. Keep your legs apart and bend down your knees a bit, like this.” Oikawa demonstrated the position and Hajime immediately followed._

_“Then, put your arms in front of you and clasp your hands like this. And then when you hit the ball, hit it with your arms but not your hands,” Oikawa instructed. Hajime positioned his arms and practiced moving his arms to receive._

_“Okay, let’s try it,” Hajime nodded. Oikawa held the ball and tossed it towards Hajime who received it but hit the ball too far away towards the left._

_“You’re using too much power and not enough control, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said. Hajime ran to fetch the ball._

_“Yeah, sorry. But at least I hit it,” Hajime grinned. “Can you toss it again?” Oikawa nodded and tossed the ball again to him. This time, Hajime used less power but the ball was too high in the air as it headed for Oikawa._

_“Try receiving it back!” Hajime shouted. Oikawa raised his hands awkwardly over his head but instead of deflecting the ball back, it landed right on his face._

_“Ow!” Oikawa cried rubbing his nose as the ball and his glasses fell to the ground._

_“Oikawa! Are you okay?” Hajime asked, rushing over to his friend._

_“My glasses? Where are they?” Oikawa panicked, searching the empty air for his glasses. Hajime bent down to pick them up from the ground._

_“Sorry, I think my receive was too high,” Hajime apologized as he rubbed the dirt off his friend’s glasses with the hem of his t-shirt before gently returning them to his face._

_“It’s alright Iwa-chan,” Oikawa smiled reassuringly. “I guess I panicked there a little…”_

_“You don’t have to continue if you don’t want to…” Hajime said, rubbing the back of his head._

_“No, I want to try it out with you, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa shook his head. “You’ll get better at volleyball if you have a partner, right?”_

_“Are you sure about it Oikawa?” Hajime asked._

_“Yup! Definitely!”_

_After two weeks of practicing receives in the volleyball court in Hajime’s backyard, the two of were finally able to receive from both sides of the court. Oikawa definitely stuck to Hajime even though he lost his glasses way too many times in the first few days. It also took time for Hajime to finally learn how to control the direction and power of the balls he received. Before dinner, the boys would usually go back inside with their t-shirts plastered to their chests from sweating so much._

_“So now that we can do receives I can start learning how to spike. Right Oikawa?” Hajime asked excitedly._

_“Actually serving comes next,” Oikawa pointed out. “The jump serve is a bit hard to do so we can start with a normal one. You can either do underhand or overhand.”_

_“What? No spiking yet?” Hajime groaned._

_“Well the overhand serve is kind of like spiking,” Oikawa said._

_“Yeah but you can’t jump and serve it over the net,” Hajime said, kicking the dirt with his shoe._

_“Spiking has to come much later…” Oikawa said in a small voice. “It’s actually pretty advanced. And you need a setter too.”_

_“I know,” Hajime sighed. “But I can’t wait until I’m a famous spiker like Kurozawa. He just looks so cool whenever he spikes. You don’t see the ball yet, just Kurozawa jumping in the air, and then suddenly… Bam! The ball is right there by his hand and he slams it down past the blockers! I want to become a cool spiker like him someday and have an amazing team!”_

_“Well then I guess I’ll have to become your setter then,” Oikawa grinned._

_“My… setter?”_

_“Yeah. You said you want to have an amazing team, right? Then I’ll just have to train just as hard and become a really amazing setter for your team,” Oikawa said smiling at Hajime. “I’ll make sure to always have the ball there for you whenever you need it, okay Iwa-chan?”_

_Hajime stared at his friend for a few moments before cracking into a smile. “Thanks. I’m counting on you, Oikawa!”_


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well of course not now that you got to play a scene with Natsumi-san, right?” Oikawa shot back. Hajime stared at him in disbelief as Oikawa continued to watch, not looking up from the TV for a second. ‘What’s wrong with him today?’ he wondered. He was pretty familiar with Oikawa’s ‘lashing-out’ kind of moods. He had witnessed it back in grade school when Oikawa’s rival Kageyama appeared. But usually it was targeted towards other people, people that Oikawa hated. Now, it seemed as if it was Hajime on the receiving end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so things are going to be getting a little more complicated between these two...
> 
> Warning: Mild Angst ahead

“What do you mean you’re not coming to school?! Nakamura is going to be pissed!” Hajime yelled over the phone.

“I told you. I caught a cold. Shouldn’t have walked around the park while it was raining…” Oikawa said weakly over the phone. His voice sounded hoarse. He was in no condition to go to school for rehearsals.

“Alright then,” Hajime sighed. “I’ll tell Nakamura.”

“Thanks Iwa— Achoo!” Oikawa sneezed and blew his nose. Hajime winced and got his bag before heading out the door.

“I’m going now. Get some rest,” he said before hanging up.

“Is Oikawa not coming?” his mother asked when Hajime walked to the door.

“No, he caught a cold yesterday,” he explained. “See you Mom,” he called before leaving. The rain yesterday started in the afternoon and went on until last night. It was a good thing he and his father made it home before it began to fall. The sidewalks and roads still shone from the rainwater as Hajime walked to school.

‘If Oikawa isn’t coming then it’s probably Natsumi’s turn to play Juliet,” Hajime realized. ‘I hope she knows her lines…’ It occurred to him that he would also have to play the Romeo to her Juliet and the thought made him blush. This was a once in a lifetime chance. Hanamaki would probably flip if he found out.

Hajime made it to school fifteen minutes early, mostly because Oikawa wasn’t there to make him late. After putting on his shoes, he passed by Yahaba in the hallway. There was a piece of paper in his hands and Hajime knew instantly what it was all about.

“Another ransom-slash-love letter, huh?” he said, walking beside his junior.

“Yeah,” Yahaba nodded, handing it over to show it to him.

“’You’re annoying but you’ll probably still make a great team captain next year,’” Hajime read. “I have no idea what to make of this.”

“Me either,” Yahaba sighed. “For once I’m actually praying for this fan mail to stop. Or at least that this person would tell me who she is.”

“Well, she’s a really weird girl, that much I can tell,” Hajime said. “Anyway, I’ve got to head to class. I hope you resolve all this.”

“Thanks, Iwaizumi-senpai,” Yahaba said sullenly as Hajime walked up the stairs to his classroom. It was busy and full of people like always. He spotted Matsukawa painting another tree by a wall with Hanamaki next to him. Natsumi was talking to Mitsuko and she looked up and waved at Hajime when he walked in.

“Hey,” he greeted, walking over to the two girls.

“Iwaizumi-san, good morning,” Mitsuko bowed.

“Hey Romeo-san,” Natsumi grinned.

“Um, Oikawa isn’t here today so I just wanted to let you know that you’ll be playing Juliet for now,” Hajime explained, rubbing the back of his head.

“Wow! You’ll be playing Juliet now!” Mitsuko smiled, grabbing onto Natsumi’s arm.

“Y-yeah…” Natsumi stammered, her smile quickly fading.

“What’s wrong? Did you memorize your lines?” Hajime asked.

“I did. I always memorize my lines…” Natsumi nodded. “But…”

“You’ll do great, Kaori!” Mitsuko reassured her.

“I’m just a little nervous… that’s all…” Natsumi confessed. “I’ve never really done this before.”

“Well, all you really can do to prepare is memorize your lines. The acting comes up once you’re already onstage. And when Nakamura makes you,” Hajime added.

“Alright, I guess I’ll just have to do my best,” Natsumi nodded and smiled.

“You’ll do great,” Hajime reassured her. “Don’t get too nervous,” he added as he walked to his friends who had been watching the whole exchange.

“Hey, where’s Oikawa?” Matsukawa asked.

“The idiot caught a cold,” Hajime answered, dropping his bag on the floor.

“How did _you_ get to talk to Natsumi-san?” Hanamaki asked incredulously, staring at his friend with wide eyes. “She has zero interest in guys, not even in Oikawa but you managed to talk to her.”

“It doesn’t mean she likes me, idiot,” Hajime sighed. “And I just told her that Oikawa would be absent so she has to fill in for Juliet.”

“Awww… lucky,” Hanamaki moaned.

“I swear, after today every guy in our class will want to kill you,” Matsukawa said, shaking his head at him.

“Whatever, I’ll ask Kyotani to protect me,” Hajime shrugged.

“And that’s all the protection you’ll ever need,” Matsukawa added.

“Is everyone here now?” Shirokawa asked over the sound of everyone else talking in the room.

“Oikawa’s absent,” Hajime said, raising his hand.

“Oikawa? Man, it had to be him out of all people,” Nakamura sighed and shook his head.

“Sorry, I think he caught a cold yesterday,” Hajime explained, walking up to the front of the room.

“Alright then, thank god we have understudies. Natsumi, onstage please with Iwaizumi,” Nakamura waved them over.

“I hate you…” Hanamaki whispered at Hajime who simply grinned as he walked towards the makeshift stage.

“Best of luck, Kaori-chan,” Mitsuko giggled as she pushed her friend towards the stage. Natsumi looked up at Hajime and smiled nervously at him onstage.

“Act 3, Scene 5, right Shirokawa?” Nakamura asked, flipping through his script.

“Yes,” Shirokawa nodded, not looking up from her clipboard.

“Okay so you two, on the balcony,” Nakamura instructed. Hajime helped Natsumi up first before climbing on top of the two desks himself. The two of them stood facing each other and Hajime suddenly felt every boy in the classroom, and a few girls as well, fix their murderous gazes at him. ‘This is going to be hard…’ Hajime thought.

“Nice, now this is a very dramatic scene,” Nakamura continued. “After a night of consummating their love, the two lovers now have to part. Romeo is exiled to Mantua and there is great uncertainty as to whether they’ll meet again. You two have to sound desperate and sad and slightly hopeful all at the same time.”

“Yes,” Natsumi nodded.

“Got it,” Hajime said under his breath. He hated it whenever Nakamura explained scenes like this. Now it felt like the temperature of the room got a lot colder.

“Great. Hopefully we’ll be able to do this without Oikawa,” Nakamura said. “And, action!”

“Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day. It was the nightingale, and not the lark, that pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear,” Natsumi recited. Her voice was clear and strong, just like Oikawa’s, and it rang throughout the classroom. A few people stopped what they were doing and watched.

“Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate tree. Believe me love,” she said, taking both of Hajime’s hands in hers, much to his surprise. “It was the nightingale.”

“It was the lark, the herald of the morn, no nightingale,” Hajime continued. He was fully aware of how Natsumi was holding his hands. They were soft and much smaller than his own. Oikawa’s hands were about the same size as his own hands, only his fingers were slightly longer. Hajime knew how much of a big deal holding Natsumi Kaori’s hands were, but for some reason, it didn’t make him feel nervous at all unlike how when he would hold Oikawa’s hands.

“Look, love, what envois streaks do lace the severing clouds in yonder east. Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops,” Hajime continued, looking towards the direction of the audience. He felt his voice projecting out and his acting came out naturally. ‘Maybe it’s because I’m not so nervous now,’ he thought. ‘Must be all the acting rehearsals.’

“I must be gone and live, or stay and die,” Hajime said, speaking in a softer voice as he turned back to Natsumi.

“Yon light is not daylight, I know it, I,” Natsumi said in a slightly desperate tone. She let go of Hajime’s hands and pointed a hand towards the ceiling. “It is some meteor that the sun exhales to be to thee this night a torchbearer, and light thee on thy way to Mantua. Therefore stay yet. Thou need’st not to be gone.”

‘She’s really good,’ Hajime thought as he watched her. Especially for someone who was doing this for the first time. Now, she had almost everyone’s attention.

“Let me be ta’en. Let me be put to death. I am content, so thou wilt have it so,” Hajime recited in a stronger voice. “I’ll say yon grey is not the morning’s eye. ‘Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia’s brow. Nor that is not the lark, whose notes do beat the vaulty heaven so high above our heads. I have more care to stay than will to go. Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so—How is’t, my soul? Let’s talk. It is not day.” Hajime sat down on the makeshift balcony with his hands in his lap.

“It is, it is. Hie hence! Be gone, away!” Natsumi pleaded, tugging Hajime’s arm to make him stand up. “It is the lark that sings so out of tune, straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps. Some say the lark makes sweet division. This doth not so, doe she divideth us. Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes. Oh, now I would they had changed voices too, S=since arm from arm that voice doth us affray, hunting thee hence with hunt’s-up to the day. O, now be gone. More light and light it grows.”

“More light and light, more dark and dark our woes,” Hajime sighed, shaking his head. The two of them continued their exchange in the scene. It felt much more natural to Hajime and he felt himself getting into the scene more. In a way, it almost felt as if he was betraying Oikawa. ‘But that idiot will be back again tomorrow,’ he thought. Still, he almost wished that Natsumi would be the one playing Juliet instead of him.

“O God, I have an ill-divining soul. Methinks I see thee now, thou art so low as one dead in the bottom of a tomb,” Natsumi sighed looking down at Hajime who now left the makeshift balcony. “Either my eyesight fails, or thou look’st pale.”

“And trust me love, love, in my eye so do you,” Hajime said, looking up at Natsumi. “Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu!” he called before leaving the stage.

“Cut! That was… excellent!” Nakamura grinned, standing up and clapping much louder than he did before. The whole class erupted into cheers, most of them coming from the boys in the classroom who were cheering for Natsumi. She blushed and bowed down before all of them while still standing on the makeshift balcony. Hajime spotted Shirokawa, the only one who was not cheering, biting her lip while staring up at Natsumi with an unreadable expression on her face.

“That was probably the best so far,” Nakamura said. “You did well, Natsumi.”

“Thank you so much,” Natsumi smiled, bowing down again. Hajime walked up to the makeshift balcony and offered her a hand.

“Do you need some help getting down, Juliet-san?” he grinned.

“Why thank you, Romeo-san,” Natsumi chuckled, taking his hand and hopping down the desks.

“You were great back there. I can’t believe you were nervous a while ago,” Hajime said.

“Well, you did very well too, Hajime,” Nakamura said, walking up to the two of them. “I think it’s the best performance you’ve given so far.”

“Really?” Hajime asked, incredulously. “Th-thanks…” He certainly felt like he was doing a good job while he was onstage but he didn’t know if it really was good or not.

“Yeah. Keep up the good work,” Nakamura clapped his back. “Alright everyone, let’s have a short break first before moving to next part of the scene. Natsumi, you stay. Capulet, Lady Capulet, and Nurse prepare yourselves for the scene.”

“Well, break a leg,” Hajime grinned.

“I’ll remember that,” Natsumi nodded before heading to talk to a squealing Mitsuko. Hajime walked to Hanamaki and Matsukawa who still hadn’t moved from there place.

“Look who’s finally gotten into acting,” Matsukawa said, flashing a shit-eating grin at him.

“Shut up. It’s because I don’t have to stare at that stupid Oikawa’s face all the time,” Hajime said.

“True, true,” Matsukawa nodded. “Hey, do you think this shade of green is too light?” he asked, showing the can of paint to Hajime.

“Uh… yeah?” Hajime said uncertainly.

“Matsukawa, it looks exactly the same as the green you showed me a minute ago,” Hanamaki groaned, sliding down the wall.

“No, I added white to that one,” Matsukawa explained. “This one has more yellow in it.”

“Still the same,” Hanamaki rolled his eyes. “So tell us, Iwaizumi,” he said, leaning forward, “How was it like, doing that scene with Natsumi?”

‘There’s the question,’ Hajime thought. “Well, she’s pretty good at acting, considering the fact that she was so nervous,” he shrugged.

“She held your hands,” Hanamaki said incredulously.

“Yeah, it felt okay I guess,” Hajime said, scratching the back of his head.

“I can’t see why you’re so deadpan about it,” Hanamaki moaned. “You couldn’t have nominated me for Paris or something? I want to have a scene with Natsumi-san.

“You do have a scene with her,” Hajime pointed out. “Act 4, Scene 1 I think. She asks you to help her out.”

“Really? With what?” Hanamaki asked, instantly jumping up.

“Killing herself,” Matsukawa answered.

“Oh…”

“Well, good luck with that,” Hajime laughed.

…

_“Sorry, Oikawa. Hajime’s sick today, he got the chicken pox,” Hajime heard his mother say to Oikawa downstairs. Hajime was standing in front of his beetle tank, feeding them with leaves inside._

_“When will he come to school?” Oikawa asked._

_“Maybe after two weeks. I’m sorry, Tooru-chan. I’m sure Hajime will miss you too,” his mother said._

_“Okay then,” he heard Oikawa sigh. Hajime went to his door and opened it a crack to see if he can maybe catch a glimpse of Oikawa but he was too far away._

_“Bye Tooru-chan. I’ll tell Hajime you came by,” he heard his mother say. Oikawa bid goodbye and heard the sound of the door closing. Hajime rushed over to his window and spotted Oikawa’s bright green backpack and red scarf. “Turn around. Turn around,” Hajime whispered, pressing his face against the glass. And true to what he wished, Oikawa did turn around and look right at Hajime’s window. He smiled slightly at him and waved his right hand. His friend grinned and waved back at him as well._

_The next day, Oikawa came over again bringing Hajime’s homework. When he looked through the worksheets, he spotted a piece of paper with Oikawa’s telltale huge but neat handwriting in purple marker. ‘Get well soon, Iwa-chan!’ it said. There was also a small drawing of a face with blue polka dots on which Hajime assumed was chicken pox. After answering his homework, Hajime wrote a note back to him on a piece of pad paper. ‘Thanks, Oikawa,’ he wrote. ‘It’s really boring here.’ At the bottom of the note, he drew a sad face with blue polka dots as well._

_Oikawa came over again the next day to get Hajime’s answered homework and give him the new one. This time, Hajime immediately looked for the note which was placed inside his English book. It said ‘Sorry Iwa-chan. I’m pretty bored too. Did you watch the new episode of Doctor Who last night?’ Hajime grinned and wrote another reply to the note._

_The two of them did this for the next few days. Hajime found himself waiting for the moment Oikawa would come into his house just so he could receive a new note from him. It reminded him a lot of how telegrams were passed to each other during the war. Hajime even invented a secret code for them to use._

_Oikawa usually sent him some things he found on that day as well. One day, it was a maple leaf that was half red and half orange that he found on the sidewalk. Another day it was a gum wrapper for blueberry-flavored bubblegum that Oikawa said Hajime should definitely try once he was well enough. Hajime’s favorite was the feather that Oikawa found in a tree while he was chasing after the ball during PE. It was as long as his arm and the black color shone blue in the light. Hajime kept it on his desk._

_Two weeks passed and Hajime was soon able to go back to school. But when he burst into his classroom, his excitement died when he realized that Oikawa wasn’t there. When he asked the teacher, she told him that he was sick with chicken pox._

…

“Hey Iwa! Want to come over to my house? We’re practicing lines,” Hanamaki said, walking to Hajime who was getting his shoes.

“And studying,” Matsukawa added.

“Thanks but I’m heading over to Oikawa’s,” Hajime said.

“Ha? What for? Isn’t he sick?” Hanamaki asked.

“I’m going to drop off his homework and check if he’s okay to go to school tomorrow,” Hajime answered.

“Fine,” Hanamaki sighed. “Let’s go Matsukawa.”

“See you, Iwaizumi,” Matsukawa waved at him before following Hanamaki out the exit. Hajime put on his shoes and started walking out as well as soon as the two of them left. The sky overhead was a cloudy grey color but it hadn’t rained yet. Which was a good thing since he didn’t bring an umbrella with him. ‘I should probably remember to bring one tomorrow,’ he thought. ‘But then if Oikawa decides to go to school he’ll probably remember to bring one.’ An image of him sharing an umbrella with Oikawa in the rain flashed in his mind and Hajime quickly shooed the thought away. ‘On second thought, I should probably bring an umbrella with me.’

Oikawa’s house was farther from school than his own house was. But they were still within the same neighborhood. Which was pretty convenient whenever Hajime needed Oikawa’s help on homework or studying for a test. Now there were even more of those than usual since they were seniors already. After the cultural festival, college applications will start coming up and cram school as well. ‘I should probably be thinking about too,’ Hajime sighed. ‘I wonder if Oikawa has already.’

His mother was the one who answered the door. Miss Oikawa, or Auntie, was probably closer to Hajime than any of his real aunts were. She treated Hajime like a second son too since Tooru was an only child. There was even a time when Hajime had his own toothbrush in their bathroom and a futon that was always laid out in Oikawa’s room, even when they didn’t have a sleepover. During grade school the two of them were around each other’s houses so often that even their clothes got mixed up.

“Ah, Hajime-chan,” Auntie smiled warmly when she saw Hajime at the door. She was wearing a pink apron over a plain housedress and her hair, which now had a bit of grey in it, was tied in a low ponytail.

“Hello Auntie,” Hajime greeted. “I brought over Oikawa’s homework from school. Is he okay already?”

“Oh yes, he seems to be doing just fine. His fever’s gone down already and he’ll probably be okay by tomorrow,” she said. “Would you like to come in and see him?”

“Sure,” Hajime nodded and stepped inside the house.

“He’s in his room. Will you stay for dinner?”

“Thanks but I don’t think I can stay too long,” Hajime shook his head.

“Alright then,” Auntie nodded and headed back to the kitchen while Hajime walked up the stairs to Oikawa’s room. The door was closed but Hajime could hear the sound of the TV playing. He knocked on the door and a slightly raspy ‘Come in!’ called from within and Hajime went inside.

“Hey, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa smiled, looking pleasantly surprised to see him. He was sitting on his futon with a thick blanket wrapped around him. There was a tray at his side with a glass of orange juice and a box of tissues on it. The TV was showing some kind of alien documentary that Oikawa seemed to like.

“Shouldn’t you be resting right now?” Hajime frowned, walking into the room.

“I slept for five hours straight and now I’m pretty bored,” Oikawa chuckled. His voice was less hoarse now but it was still a little raspy.

“I see,” Hajime nodded, sitting down on the floor at a distance away from Oikawa’s futon. “What are you watching?” he asked, pointing to the TV.

“Oh, I’ve been catching up a bit with Ancient Aliens,” Oikawa grinned. He was wearing his thick-rimmed glasses right now with the large frames. When Hajime looked at him, he couldn’t help but see the younger Oikawa he became friends with.

“There’s this theory that Democritus, you know the guy who first came up with a theory about atoms, had access to some kind of extra-terrestrial knowledge and that’s why he knew about the atom,” Oikawa explained, turning back to the documentary.

“Is that so? Sounds boring as hell. Only you would watch something like this,” Hajime sighed, leaning his head on one arm as he watched TV. “Oh by the way, Yahaba got another one of those mystery letters.”

“Oh really?” Oikawa grinned. “I knew another one would come soon enough. What else happened in school earlier? Was Daiki-chan mad?”

“Only for a second,” Hajime answered. “He got Natsumi-san to replace you for the scene.”

“Oh, Natsumi- _san_.” Hajime frowned at the edge in Oikawa’s tone.

“Did she do well?” he asked.

“Yeah, she did,” Hajime said slowly. “It was kind of surprising actually. She was so nervous before doing the scene but she surprised everyone by doing it really well. Nakamura even said that it’s one of the best scenes we’ve had so far.”

“Did he? A compliment from Daiki-chan is pretty rare,” Oikawa said monotonously. “Well, I guess that’s good then. It means we’re making progress with our play. Soon it will all be over and Iwa-chan will finally be free of this hellish play.”

“Hold on a second, I didn’t say it was ‘hellish,’” Hajime argued, frowning at his friend.

“Well of course not now that you got to play a scene with Natsumi- _san,_ right?” Oikawa shot back. Hajime stared at him in disbelief as Oikawa continued to watch, not looking up from the TV for a second. ‘What’s wrong with him today?’ he wondered. He was pretty familiar with Oikawa’s ‘lashing-out’ kind of moods. He had witnessed it back in grade school when Oikawa’s rival Kageyama appeared. But usually it was targeted towards other people, people that Oikawa _hated._ Now, it seemed as if it was Hajime on the receiving end.

‘It’s probably because of his cold,’ Hajime reassured himself. ‘It’s just his cold and maybe he’s stressed or something. That’s why he’s not thinking right.’

“Hey Oikawa—“

“Sorry, Hajime. That kind of came out of nowhere,” Oikawa interrupted, turning to him with a smile on his face.

“Uh… yeah…” Hajime nodded slowly.

“I guess it’s just my cold messing with my head and I’ve been really stressed about a bunch of stuff lately…” Oikawa explained. “And I was just a little jealous that Daiki-chan instantly liked Natsumi’s acting. I really do have way too much pride,” he chuckled half-heartedly.

“Yeah. It’s fine, I understand,” Hajime smiled slightly, feeling relieved that Oikawa was owning up to his own mistakes. But there was still a nagging feeling that remained but he decided to let it go for now.

“Maybe you need to rest a little more, okay?” he advised, placing a hand on Oikawa’s shoulder. “Auntie said that you might be well enough to go to school tomorrow but don’t push yourself if you can’t.” Oikawa’s gaze lingered a little on the hand on his shoulder before finally shifting to Hajime.

“Yeah, I will,” he nodded. “And don’t stay too close to me. You’ll catch a cold, Iwa-chan and I don’t think I can play Romeo that well,” Oikawa chuckled. He lifted Hajime’s hand off his shoulder and placed it on the floor beside him. Oikawa’s hand lingered for a few seconds on top of Hajime’s before finally pulling back.

“I-I have to go home already,” Hajime said quickly, standing up. “I wasn’t really planning to stay that long and it’s almost dinnertime.”

“Alright. Thanks for visiting anyway, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa smiled, wrapping his blankets tighter around himself. Hajime stared down at him and for a moment, the image of a younger Oikawa all wrapped up in a blanket swam into his mind. It left as quickly as it came.

“Is everything okay, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa asked, blinking up at him.

“Yeah,” Hajime nodded. “I’ll be going now.” He walked to the door and stepped out of the room, hearing Oikawa say goodbye right before he closed it. Hajime lingered outside the door for a few moments. He thought about how Oikawa had touched his hand a moment ago, how it sent electrical charges running down his skin when his hand lingered on his for far longer than it should have; how the electrical charges seemed to disappear once Oikawa removed his hand.

‘There’s definitely something wrong with me too,’ Hajime thought, shaking his head as he made his way down the stairs.

…

_“Iwa-chan, is it really okay for you to be here? Won’t you get sick or something?” Oikawa asked from under his tent made out of blankets and quilts put together. There was a sign placed in front that said ‘Quarantine,’ or at least Hajime thought so since the spelling was all wrong. A badly drawn skull with crossbones was drawn under the label. When Oikawa saw Hajime enter the room, he immediately retreated into his makeshift ‘Quarantine Zone’ and placed the sign on the front._

_“I told you, once you get the chicken pox, you don’t get it ever again,” Hajime explained for the fourth time as he crouched in front of the tent. “Don’t worry, my mom said that I could visit you for a bit so get out of that tent already.”_

_“No. I don’t want to,” Oikawa said stubbornly._

_“Come on. Didn’t you say you want to play already?”_

_“We can play once I get better.”_

_“Not even for a little bit?”_

_“Nope.”_

_“Fine, I’m coming in.” Hajime stood up and took a step forward towards the tent when a chicken pox-covered hand shot out._

_“You don’t have the authorization. This is a quarantine zone,” Oikawa said from inside._

_“Whatever,” Hajime rolled his eyes. He gripped the sheet on top with both hands and dragged it away from the wall, destroying Oikawa’s quarantine zone._

_“Iwa-chan!” his friend cried and pulled the blanket from him before wrapping it around himself._

_“Now I’ve got you out,” Hajime grinned, standing over his friend._

_“Go away Iwa-chan! I told you not to!” Oikawa yelled, huddling against the wall with the blanket wrapped around him. Hajime frowned and crouched down again close to his friend._

_“Hey, I’m sorry for destroying your quarantine zone,” he apologized, touching his shoulder lightly._

_“Stupid Iwa-chan,” Oikawa muttered. “You’ll be sent to jail for destruction of property.”_

_“What’s the matter, Oikawa?” Hajime sighed._

_“I… I don’t want you to see me like this…” Oikawa admitted softly. “I have red dots all over me, even on my face! It looks terrible, I don’t want you to see it…”_

_‘Oh, so that’s what it is…’ Hajime realized, suddenly feeling angry at himself for not thinking it sooner. He kneeled closer to Oikawa and gently pulled down the sheets, revealing Oikawa’s face which was, just like he said, covered with chicken pox marks. Oikawa flinched slightly and tried to cover himself up again but Hajime put his hands down._

_“You’re right, you really do look terrible,” Hajime grinned._

_“Mean Iwa-chan!” Oikawa pouted._

_“But I looked worse when I had chicken pox,” Hajime said, pointing a thumb towards his chest. “My face was covered with them! I had a really huge one right here on my nose.” He tapped an index finger against the bridge of his nose which was now covered with a bandage._

_“I had to cover it up with this thing since it left a scar when I scratched it too much,” he explained._

_“Really? So that’s why Mom tells me not to scratch them,” Oikawa mused._

_“And you better not,” Hajime warned, wagging a finger at him. “Or else you’ll look even uglier than before.”_

_“But I can’t possibly be uglier than you, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa grinned at him._

_“Just because you have chicken pox doesn’t mean I’ll hit you less,” Hajime stood up, aiming a chop at Oikawa’s head._

_“Ow! Sorry Iwa-chan!” Oikawa apologized, rubbing the area with his hands. “But you know…” he said, looking up at Hajime. “You don’t actually look bad, Iwa-chan.”_

_“O-of course I don’t,” Hajime flushed. “Hey, wanna watch TV?” he asked hurriedly, eager to change the subject._

_“Alright Iwa-chan,” Oikawa nodded. “I’ve got Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. Wanna watch that?”_

_“Sure,” Hajime agreed, although he’d much rather watch something like Howl’s Moving Castle instead._

_“I’ll get the DVD,” Oikawa volunteered, standing up with the blanket still wrapped around him and trailing on the floor as he walked to the DVD case._

_“Do you really have to keep that around you?” Hajime sighed as he sat down on Oikawa’s futon in front of the TV._

_“Uh huh,” Oikawa nodded, getting the DVD and walking to the TV to put it in. “It’s my favorite blanket.”_

_“I can see that,” Hajime said, looking at the planet and stars design on the dark blue blanket. Oikawa grinned and sat down beside him, pulling the blanket around him like a cocoon._

_“Do you also not want me to see the chicken pox on your arms and legs?” Hajime guessed._

_“Kinda…” Oikawa said meekly._

_“Alright then…”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it!!!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m happy for you,” Oikawa interrupted him. He walked towards the exit and stood beside him, opening his umbrella. “Go chase after your Juliet.” He smiled at him before walking out into the rain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew! This chapter's a long one but a lot of exciting stuff is happening!! Thank you all so much for sticking with this fic so far and for leaving all these nice comments that I don't deserve. So for all your hard work, I shall present you with Friar Lawrence Hanamaki...

It did rain the next day when Hajime woke up. ‘At least now I’ll really remember to bring my own umbrella,’ he thought as he started getting ready for school. Oikawa didn’t call that morning either so Hajime assumed that he was well enough to go to school already. And sure enough, he came to his house just after Hajime finished eating breakfast.

“You’re early today,” Hajime commented once he opened the door. Oikawa grinned at him from under a bright red umbrella. “Are you well now?”

“Yup. All I needed was some rest,” Oikawa nodded. His voice no longer sounded raspy to Hajime’s relief. He got his own umbrella and left the house.

“When is this rain going to stop? Isn’t it supposed to be spring?” Hajime huffed as he and Oikawa stepped over puddles on the sidewalk while the rain poured down on their umbrellas.

“I heard this was going to be the last of it,” Oikawa said. “Next week it’s going to be really hot.”

“Geez, there really is no in-between when it comes to weather,” Hajime sighed.

“I know! Look at what the humidity is doing to my hair,” Oikawa pouted, pulling at a strand of his hair.

“Your hair looks the same as it did yesterday, Shittykawa,” Hajime rolled his eyes.

“Does it?” Oikawa asked, cocking his head at Hajime. He stared at his friend. ‘Well, it is a bit messier than before,’ Hajime noticed. But other than that, it still pretty much looked the same. Hajime always thought that Oikawa’s hair was the same color as the hot chocolate they used to drink a lot whenever it was cold.

“Yeah, still looks the same,” Hajime nodded, looking down at the sidewalk as he stepped over another puddle.

…

“Ah, Oikawa’s here,” Hanamaki said from his position on top of his desk.

“Aw, did you miss me Makki?” Oikawa grinned as he put his own bag down by his desk.

“Not a chance,” Hanamaki grinned and shook his head.

“Hey, what’s happening here?” Hajime asked Matsukawa as he watched his classmates packing up their props.

“Didn’t you listen to Nakamura’s announcement yesterday?” Matsukawa raised an eyebrow at Hajime as he carefully gathered the painted, cardboard trees he made.

“No,” Hajime shook his head.

“Well, at least he’ll be saying it again,” Matsukawa said, pointing to the front of the room where Nakamura was standing.

“For those of you who weren’t here or weren’t paying attention yesterday,” Nakamura announced. “We will be moving to the gym today so that we can start working on a real stage. Those of you who are working on props and the set, you will have time to start setting up everything on the stage. Actors, you’ll start fitting your costumes with the costume designers. They’re all ready, right Mitsuko?”

“Yes. All set!” Mitsuko answered, flashing him a thumbs-up.

“Great,” Nakamura smiled. “Now, let’s head on to the gym. We only have two class periods to work.”

“You heard him,” Matsukawa said as he started carrying the trees.

“Nice, we get to practice on a real stage already,” Oikawa grinned as he lifted his bag up again.

“I guess…” Hajime mumbled, carrying his own bag. ‘That means I’ll have to speak louder, doesn’t it?’ he thought sullenly as the four of them started to walk out the classroom.

“Let me help with those, Matsukawa,” Hanamaki said, rushing over to his side to take a few trees.

“Nah, I got it,” Matsukawa shook his head.

“Come on.” Hanamaki took a few trees from under Matsukawa’s arm despite him protesting. “You might trip down the stairs if you carry too much,” he reasoned.

“I think that’s more likely in your case,” Matsukawa deadpanned.

“He’s right you know,” Oikawa pointed out.

“Shut up! At least I’m helping him out while you guys are just there being all useless!” Hanamaki argued, pointing at the two of them.

“He’s right,” Matsukawa said.

“See?!”

“I’d rather have you guys help me carry these than this useless, clumsy guy over here,” Matsukawa added, pointing a finger at Hanamaki.

“Is that any way to talk to somebody who’s helping you out?!” Hanamaki yelled. “Now I regret helping you at all.”

“Thanks for your help, Hanamaki,” Matsukawa bowed. “Now will you please give the rest to Iwaizumi and Oikawa?”

“Give it here, Makki,” Oikawa grinned, holding out his arms.

“Go to hell, all of you,” Hanamaki fumed, handing the trees over to Oikawa.

…

The gym was full of their classmates when they entered. There were people on stage setting up the props and preparing the set for every scene. The ‘balcony’ for the balcony scenes was a set of bleachers covered with designs at the base to make it look like the edge of a balcony. There were also railings at the side made out of cardboard and fake vines painted on it. On the opposite end of the room there were people working on the lights and sounds. Curtains and mirrors were set up by the walls where the costume designers were laying out the prepared costumes.

“Well, I’m heading over there,” Matsukawa said, taking his trees back from Oikawa and Hajime. “Thanks for carrying my trees.”

“Yeah, you’re welcome,” Hanamaki said sarcastically.

“Can’t wait to see your costume soon, Hanamaki,” Matsukawa grinned, flicking his friend on the forehead before making his way to the stage.

“You know, those were really nice trees,” Oikawa told Hajime.

“I agree. Who knew Matsukawa was that good at painting,” he nodded.

“Well of course, I helped him out,” Hanamaki rolled his eyes, overhearing what Hajime and Oikawa were talking about. “For days I had to put up with all these stupid questions like ‘Hey how about this color Hanamaki?’ and ‘Do you think I should add more red to this brown Hanamaki?’” Hanamaki ranted, making perfect impressions of Matsukawa’s voice.

“Well it turned out great in the end,” Oikawa smiled.

“Of course it did,” Hanamaki crossed his arms. “Matsukawa painted them after all.”

“You three,” Mitsuko came running towards them. “We’ve got your costumes ready.”

“Great! Thank you Mitsuko-chan!” Oikawa smiled. Hajime rolled his eyes while a blush spread across Mitsuko’s face.

“I-I hope you like the one I made for you, Oikawa-san,” she stammered.

“I’m sure I will,” Oikawa said politely, turning back to Hajime and Hanamaki. “Let’s suit up then, Iwa-chan, Makki.”

“Great,” Hanamaki groaned as the three of them followed behind Mitsuko to the costume area. Hajime was crossing his fingers behind his back while Oikawa chatted with Mitsuko in front. They headed to a long rack that was full of hangers of costumes in different colors. Mitsuko browsed through the hangers of costumes and pulled out a dark red robe with a rope around the midsection for a belt.

“Here’s your costume, Hanamaki-san,” she said, offering the costume to him.

“ _This_ is my costume?” Hanamaki exclaimed, taking the hanger. “It’s a dress.”

“It’s a friar robe, Makki,” Oikawa corrected.

“But it still has a skirt.”

“Just get in there and put it on,” Hajime said impatiently, shoving Hanamaki towards the ‘changing area’ which was just a curtained-off place near the wall.

“This is your costume, Iwaizumi-san,” Mitsuko said, offering him another hanger with a costume on it.

“Thanks,” Hajime grumbled, heading to an empty changing room.

“Can’t wait to see you in it, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa called after him. Hajime entered a changing area and closed the curtain behind him, leaving him alone to assess his own costume. It actually wasn’t as bad as the old-fashioned, stockinged, feather-plumed hat nightmare with a cape that Hajime imagined. It was a dark blue, button-up with long sleeves and a collar that just reached the bottom of his chin. There were large silver buttons down the front as well as on the cuffs of his sleeves. The pants were simple black slacks. He even had a belt with a place for his sword.

‘It doesn’t look quite bad,’ Hajime thought pleasantly as he undressed and began to put on the costume. It even fit perfectly on him. ‘Not bad Mitsuko,’ he thought, stretching his arms out. Mitsuko reminded beforehand to bring some black leather shoes for the costume which he put on before leaving the changing room and walking straight into a passing Natsumi.

“Sorry! I didn’t see you there,” Hajime instantly apologized once he saw who he ran into.

“No, it’s alright. I wasn’t looking where I was going either,” Natsumi smiled. She had already put on her costume which was a floor-length, blue gown that matched the color of her eyes. Her long, blond hair fell down her back and around her face. She was holding a brush in one hand and a hair tie in another.

“Y-you look great,” Hajime stammered, feeling his cheeks grow red.

“Oh, thank you,” Natsumi bowed. “Your costume looks really nice too, Romeo-san. I see Mitsuko did a really great job.”

“Yeah, it fits great,” Hajime exclaimed stretching his arms out.

“Well, I have to find Mayumi-san already. See you, Iwaizumi-san,” Natsumi waved before walking away, causing other people to stare as she passed.

“Iwaizumi-san! There you are!” Mitsuko said, walking towards him. “Is the costume okay? Does it fit right?” she asked.

“Oh yeah, it fits great,” Hajime grinned. “And it looks good too.”

“Oh, I’m glad,” Mitsuko sighed. “Have you seen Oikawa-san?”

“No,” Hajime shook his head. “But I’ll look for him.”

“Thank you. I need to go after Kaori-chan now.”

“Oh, she went that way to look for Mayumi,” Hajime said, pointing in the direction Natsumi left.

“Great! Thanks!” Mitsuko said before taking off in that direction. Hajime walked around the changing room areas, some of which were closed by the curtain while others were open. He paused for a while in front of a mirror to see how he looked. The costume looked pretty simple, to his delight, and it wasn’t that flashy either. He wondered if his ‘prince’ costume for the play he did in grade school looked a little ]like this. Suddenly, the curtains to the changing room behind him opened. Hajime turned his head around and came face to face with Oikawa.

He had already changed in his costume for Julius and Hajime could see that Mitsuko really did put a lot of thought in this one. The top was similar to Hajime’s own top but Oikawa’s top was white with gold buttons on it. On the left side of his chest was a golden embroidered sun. His pants were a darker gold in color. Hajime remembered one of his lines from the play. ‘It is the east and Julius is the sun,’ he thought as he looked at Oikawa. ‘He definitely looks like one.’

“Oh, nice costume Iwa-chan!” Oikawa smiled as he looked at Hajime. “Very princely.”

“Y-yeah, you too,” Hajime stammered, tearing his gaze away from him. When he saw Natsumi earlier he felt his cheeks burn at the sight of her. Now it felt as if his whole body was on fire.

“Right? Mitsuko-chan did a really good job,” he grinned as he admired himself in front of the mirror.

“She did,” Hajime agreed, calming himself down. “By the way, have you seen Hanamaki?”

“Oh yeah,” Oikawa realized. “I wonder how that friar costume looks on him,” he giggled. And as if on cue, the curtains of a changing area near them opened and Hanamaki stepped out in a red friar robe. Oikawa and Hajime stared at him speechless until Hanamaki sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Fine, you can laugh already,” he said. Hajime and Oikawa looked at each other and began to laugh. Oikawa had to support himself against a table while Hajime was bent over from laughter.

“Okay, it’s not _that_ funny,” Hanamaki fumed.

“I-it is, Makki,” Oikawa choked out.

“God, I hope Matsukawa isn’t looking,” Hanamaki said, covering his face with his hands.

“I’m way ahead of you there,” Matsukawa spoke up from the side, already holding up his cellphone and taking pictures.

“What the fuck Matsukawa?! Stop taking pictures of me!” Hanamaki yelled, trying to grab the phone from Matsukawa.

“Sorry, what’s done is done,” Matsukawa grinned down at a furious Hanamaki as he put his phone in his pocket.

“Well, it can’t get any worse, can it?” Hanamaki sighed, stepping away from Matsukawa.

“Hanamaki-san! There you are!” Mitsuko said, running towards him. “We have to put the bald cap on you now.” She lifted up a thing that looked like a swimming cap but with a color that was similar to Hanamaki’s own skin tone. At the sight of it, Hajime and Oikawa burst into laughter again. Hanamaki stared at the bald cap.

“I stand corrected.”

…

_“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa exclaimed, running towards Hajime who was waiting on the sidewalk in front of his house._

_“Hey Oikawa,” Hajime grinned. “You’re back to school already.”_

_“Yup!” Oikawa nodded, jumping up and down on the balls of his feet, making his backpack jiggle up and down as well. “I missed school.”_

_“I miss staying at home and watching TV all day,” Hajime said as the two of them started to walk to school._

_“Boo, you’re so lazy Iwa-chan,” Oikawa stuck his tongue out at him._

_“But I miss walking to school with you more,” Hajime said._

_“Yeah, I think that’s the one I really miss,” Oikawa agreed. The two of them continued talking as they walked to school. Oikawa was saying something about a book he just read while Hajime listened to him intently, realizing that what he really missed after all during those days when they had chicken pox was being able to talk to his friend._

_It was usually Oikawa who talked during their conversations but Hajime didn’t mind. He liked it when Oikawa talked. Usually he’d tell Hajime about a new show he just watched or a new book he just read. But sometimes he just talked to him about the first thing that came to his head. Now, they were talking about the ‘UFO sighting’ Oikawa had seen that night._

_“I’m telling you, Iwa-chan. It was a real UFO,” he insisted._

_“How do you know?” Hajime argued. “Maybe it was just an airplane or something.”_

_“It’s not an_ airplane _Iwa-chan. The lights were in a circle together so it must be a UFO.”_

_“Whatever you say Oikawa,” Hajime gave in as the two of them entered the school grounds. A group of their boy classmates were crowded together under a tree. Hajime eyed them warily as he and Oikawa walked past but sure enough, those jerks did what they did every single day._

_“Hey four-eyes!” Rin yelled. He was the supposed ‘leader’ of the group. “Did you see any UFO’s last night? Because I think I saw one but then it just turned out to be an airplane.” Oikawa cringed at the sound of his voice and shrank into himself._

_“You probably won’t know a UFO if it hit you on your face, stupid Rin,” Hajime retorted as he put an arm around Oikawa and started walking faster to school._

_“Hey!” Rin yelled. He ran, quickly catching up to the two of them and roughly pulled Hajime away from Oikawa. “What did you say to me?” he fumed._

_“I said, you probably won’t know a UFO if it hit you on your face, stupid Rin!” Hajime yelled. Rin punched him in the side of the face but Hajime didn’t flinch. He was used to being hit by volleyballs in the face._

_“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa cried running over to the two of them. The commotion had already called the attention of everyone else in the school yard and a bunch of kids were already standing by to watch. Oikawa pulled on Rin’s arm. “Let him go!” he yelled._

_“Just shut up with your Iwa-chan this and Iwa-chan that,” Rin growled, shoving Oikawa who fell to the ground. “Why do you even hang out with this nerd, Iwaizumi? You’re cool, you can join us.” He snatched away Oikawa’s glasses._

_“No! Give those back!” Oikawa yelled, grabbing at thin air._

_“Give those back Rin,” Hajime growled._

_“Come on Iwaizumi, just admit it,” Rin said, holding on to Oikawa’s glasses. “You’re just friends with him because you’re trying to be nice. Isn’t that right?” Oikawa suddenly fell silent and stopped grabbing for his glasses. Hajime looked at Rin directly in the eye._

_“Do you really think I’m stupid enough to put up with this guy for years just so I could ‘be nice’?” Hajime said. “Because if you did, then you’re even dumber than I thought,” he smirked._

_“Take that back!” Rin growled._

_“Give Oikawa his glasses back and I’ll let you go,” Hajime said calmly._

_“I don’t think so,” Rin smirked at him and snapped the glasses in half with one hand. He was too busy laughing to see Hajime’s fist flying towards his face._

…

“Wow, just look at it. It’s so real…” Hajime said as he gazed at the bald cap on Hanamaki’s head. It only covered the top part of his head and his strawberry-colored hair peeked out from the bottom. Hajime was quite surprised at how realistic it looked.

“It’s so shiny too,” Oikawa said.

“It’s even brighter than my future,” Hanamaki added. Hajime and Oikawa both nodded in agreement.

“You’re going to hell, all of you,” Hanamaki grumbled.

“Sorry, please forgive our sins, friar,” Matsukawa said, kneeling down in front of Hanamaki.

“There you are,” Nakamura said, jogging up to them. “The set is all prepared now. We’ll do Act 3, Scene 5 again.”

“But isn’t that the one we did yesterday?” Hajime asked.

“Yeah but we’ll do it again now that Oikawa’s here. Also I want to see how the balcony scenes are going to look like on this stage,” Nakamura explained. “You know your lines, right Oikawa?”

“Of course Daiki-chan,” Oikawa replied cheerily.

“Get onstage then you two. And quit calling me Daiki-chan,” Nakamura ordered.

“Alright. Let’s go, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa grinned and the two of them began making their way to the stage which was already set up with all the props. ‘It actually looks pretty good,’ Hajime thought as he stood on the stage, surveying all the props.

“Romeo-san. Romeo-san!” someone whispered from below the side of the stage. Hajime followed the voice and found Natsumi standing there holding a prop sword. Her hair was now brushed out and a net made out of small glittering crystals was set on top of her head. The crystals caught the light whenever she turned her head, making her face look like it was glowing.

“H-hey Natsumi,” Hajime stammered.

“Mitsuko forgot to give you your sword,” she said, handing over the sword to him. It was the thin, pointy kind of sword that was used a lot for fencing. Even though it was clearly made out of aluminum foil, the sword still look pretty real.

“Whoa, the guys working on props really did well,” Hajime said, slashing the air a bit in front of him with the sword.

“Well, make sure you break a leg and not take someone’s eye out, okay?” Natsumi winked.

“I’ll remember that,” Hajime smiled at her before walking back to the center of the stage where Oikawa was already standing on the balcony.

“Who was that, Iwa-chan?” he asked, smiling down at him.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know, Trashykawa,” Hajime sighed. “And she just came over to give me my prop sword.”

“I see,” Oikawa said mildly, nodding his head. “That was nice of her to do that.”

“Will you just quit the act, Oikawa? I don’t care if you hate her or not. Just stop acting like a child,” Hajime snapped. Oikawa stepped back in surprise from Hajime’s reaction but shamefully lowered his head.

“I’m sorry. You’re right, I should just stop…” he said softly, rubbing his arm with his left hand. Hajime knew very well that this was Oikawa’s ‘defensive stance.’ He saw it quite often when they were kids, especially whenever their other classmates bullied him. Seeing it in front of him again made Hajime rethink what he just said.

“Alright, we’ll start the scene now,” Nakamura announced. “Hajime, on the balcony now with Oikawa.” Hajime grudgingly obeyed him although he couldn’t imagine a more inappropriate time for him and Oikawa to do a scene. Especially one like this. The stairs to the ‘balcony’ were in the back and Hajime climbed them until he came face to face with Oikawa.

“Shirokawa, remind me to tell the lights and sound guys to place a spotlight on them,” Nakamura said.

“Got it,” Shirokawa nodded, making a note in her clipboard. ‘Great, a spotlight,’ Hajime thought. In front of him, Oikawa took a deep breath.

“Let’s do this then,” he said half-heartedly.

“Yeah,” Hajime nodded.

“And… action!” Nakamura yelled.

“Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day. It was the nightingale, and not the lark, that pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear,” Oikawa recited. Again, Hajime was taken aback by how good his acting was, especially considering the fact that the two of them had argued a moment ago. But compared to how he acted in the previous scenes they did together, it was somewhat lackluster now.

“Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate tree. Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.”

“It was the lark, the herald of the morn, no nightingale. Look, love, what envious streaks do lace the severing clouds in yonder easy. Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. I must be gone and live, or stay and die,” Hajime said. While reciting his lines, he spotted Nakamura frowning from in front of the stage. Hajime couldn’t blame him, he knew that his acting had dropped significantly from last time when he did the scene with Natsumi.

“Yon light is not daylight, I know it, I. It is some meteor that the sun exhales and light thee on thy way to Mantua. Therefore stay yet. Thou need’st not to be gone,” Oikawa continued, his voice sounding slightly monotonous. Instead of looking right at Hajime, his eyes were focused at the top of his head. It was as if Hajime wasn’t even there at all.

“Let me be ta’en. Let me be put to death,” Hajime said next. “I am content, so thou… wilt have it so. I’ll say um… yon grey is not the morning’s eye. ‘Tis but the uh, pale reflex of Cynthia’s brow…” Hajime continued the rest of his lines, stumbling over some words and forgetting others. He could feel himself unraveling, and he knew that it was happening to Oikawa as well.

“Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray, hunting thee hence with hunt’s-up to the day. O, now be gone. More light and light it grows,” Oikawa said.

“More light and light, more dark and dark our woes…” Hajime answered. The Nurse, played by their classmate Akane, entered the stage.

“Sir,” she called to Oikawa. He didn’t reply and just stood, staring ahead. Hajime could feel all eyes on them and he knew that they all shared one similar thought. He and Oikawa were falling apart.

“Sir,” Akane said again, confusion written all over her face. She looked at Hajime and mouthed ‘What’s wrong with him?’ Hajime tapped Oikawa’s hand.

“Hey, your line,” he whispered. For the first time throughout the whole scene, Oikawa looked right at him.

“I’m sorry,” he said. He turned to Nakamura and scratched the back of his head, putting on a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I think I forgot my lines, Nakamura.”

“I see,” Nakamura sighed. “Well, that scene wasn’t very well done either.”

“Sorry, Nakamura-san,” Hajime apologized.

“Alright, let’s just take a break first and redo the scene after,” Nakamura shook his head.

“Maybe you can let Natsumi-san do the scene first,” Oikawa offered. “I mean, she probably knows the lines better than me. I can use the time to look over my lines too.”

“Wait, what?” Hajime asked, looking at Oikawa with confusion on his face. It wasn’t like Oikawa to forget his lines and just stop in the middle of a performance. If he did forget his lines, he’d probably just improvise instead. But what surprised Hajime the most was that Oikawa practically gave his role over to Natsumi, who he seemed to hate.

“That’s a good idea, Oikawa,” Nakamura nodded. “Looks like you’re up next, Natsumi.”

“M-me?” Natsumi stammered. “A-alright then.” The bell for lunch rang just in time and the class disassembled and made their way out of the gym. Hajime caught up to Oikawa who was walking towards the changing room.

“Hey, what was that back there? It isn’t like you,” Hajime demanded, forcing Oikawa to face him.

“I guess I’m just a little bit out of it,” he grinned.

“Don’t lie to me. Even if you are a ‘bit out of it’ you’d still do ten times better than how you did earlier,” Hajime argued. “What’s bothering you?”

“You better memorize your own lines too, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa smiled before walking away, not answering Hajime’s question at all.

“What the fuck?” he said under his breath, his hands curled into fists. “Tell me what’s wrong with you, idiot.”

…

“I’ll to the friar to know his remedy. If all else fail, myself have power to die,” Natsumi recited from the center of the stage. Just like the time when they did their scene yesterday, Natsumi had captured the attention of the entire audience again. It certainly restored Nakamura’s positivity level which had went down earlier after watching Oikawa and Hajime’s scene. Natsumi exited the stage to the left and the gym echoed with the sound of clapping.

“Good job,” Hajime grinned, meeting her by the side of the stage.

“Iwaizumi-san,” Natsumi said, sounding startled at first but then breaking into a smile. “Thank you. I’m glad I was able to do it well.”

“You did great,” Hajime nodded, looking over her shoulder to glance at Oikawa who was sitting on the floor against a wall. He had the script in his lap but instead of reading it, he was staring in the distance. Natsumi followed Hajime’s gaze and turned to look at Oikawa as well.

“Is he okay?” she asked, sounding concerned.

“No, something’s wrong with him but he’s not telling me a thing,” Hajime shook his head. “But he’ll tell me eventually, I’m sure,” he said, trying to convince himself as well.

“I hope he does,” Natsumi agreed.

“Alright, our time in the gym is up and it’s dismissal already,” Nakamura announced. “Please be here bright and early tomorrow morning.”

“We only have two weeks left before the actual play,” Shirokawa added. “We’ll do the rest of the scenes tomorrow and afterwards, we’ll work on polishing every one of them. Please take care of your costumes and make sure to bring them every day because it will all be dress rehearsals from now on.”

“That is all. Please clean up before you leave,” Nakamura finished.

“Well, I better change out of this already,” Hajime said.

“Yeah,” Natsumi nodded, removing the crystal net from her hair. “Um actually, Iwaizumi-san, I wanted to talk to you about something…” she said softly.

“What is it?” Hajime asked, cocking his head at her.

“I’ll tell you later. Can you please meet me by the shoe lockers after?” Natsumi asked.

“Sure,” Hajime nodded, his mind racing into overdrive as he thought of a million different scenarios of what might happen soon.

“Alright, I’ll see you then,” Natsumi bowed before rushing over to the changing room. Hajime watched her leave before looking around for Oikawa but he had disappeared as well.

…

Hajime carried the hanger with his costume on it on his back, watching the rain outside and wondering how he was going to bring it home under his tiny umbrella. ‘It’s either me or the costume that’s going to get wet,’ he thought before finally deciding that it was better for him to get wet instead of the costume. If it did, at least he could ask his mother for help with drying it out.

“Romeo-san!” Hajime turned around at the sight of Natsumi’s voice. She was running over to him while carrying her costume which was slung over her back.

“Hey, there you are,” he smiled once she stopped in front of him.

“I brought you this,” she said, offering him a black bag with a zipper on it.

“What is it?” he asked, taking it from her.

“You put it on your hanger to protect your costume,” she explained, showing him her own costume which was also covered with the black bag. “Mitsuko-chan had a couple of them and I asked for an extra one in case you needed it.”

“Thanks,” Hajime said gratefully, unzipping the bag. “Um, how do you put it on?”

“Here,” Natsumi chuckled and helped him slide the black bag over the hanger and his costume before zipping it shut.

“Thanks,” Hajime said again. “I was actually worrying about how to bring this thing home without getting it wet just a minute ago.”

“Well, good thing that I thought of it,” Natsumi smiled.

“By the way, what was it you were going to say?” Hajime asked, turning away and rubbing the back of his head.

“Oh that…” Natsumi said softly, gripping the strap of her bag tightly. “I was wondering if… you would like to go on a date with me…” Hajime blinked twice, shaking his head a bit to make sure he heard what she said correctly.

It was real. Natsumi Kaori, _the_ Natsumi Kaori, just asked him out on a date. Hajime could see himself being beat up by every guy in their class. Natsumi looked incredibly cute right now, biting her lip nervously as she waited for his answer.

‘I’m supposed to say yes, right?’ he asked himself. If Hanamaki could see him and know what he was thinking right now, he’d probably smack him on the head and yell ‘Of course you say yes, dumbass!’ Hajime’s father met Natsumi already back at the Giants game and he could tell right away that he loved her, and not just because she was a Giants fan. She was a girl after all, a very pretty girl. He could already see his mother fawning over her. It would stop his parents from wondering if he was homosexual or not.

‘Is this why it feels so wrong?’ Hajime wondered, already knowing what his answer was.

“Sure,” Hajime nodded. Natsumi looked up at him in surprise.

“R-really?! If you’re not sure you can still think about it again. I’m in no particular rush at all,” she said quickly.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Hajime chuckled.

“Well, I’m glad,” Natsumi smiled and opened her umbrella. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Romeo-san,” she waved.

“You too, Juliet,” Hajime waved back and watched her as she headed out into the rain.

“Well, it seems you beat me at getting a girlfriend first.”

Hajime whirled around and saw Oikawa standing by the shoe lockers behind him. He felt a weight drop down in his stomach. “N-no she’s not my girlfriend,” Hajime stammered, trying to explain. “She just asked me out, that’s all. Just one date.”

“But that one date will turn into two dates and two dates will turn into three dates,” Oikawa continued, smiling at Hajime. “You don’t have to deny it. You two like each other after all, it’s inevitable.”

“Oikawa it’s—“

“I’m happy for you,” Oikawa interrupted him. He walked towards the exit and stood beside him, opening his umbrella. “Go chase after your Juliet.” He smiled at him before walking out into the rain.

“Wait!” Hajime called after him. Oikawa turned around. “Don’t you want to practice lines at home or something?” he asked. “A-and I could really use your help for the math homework. You know I’m terrible at it,” Hajime said, thinking of more excuses he could use inside his head.

“Sorry, but I don’t think I’ll be in the play anymore,” Oikawa said, looking down at the ground. “You’ll have to do it by yourself, Iwaizumi.” And before Hajime could say anything else, he walked farther and farther away.

“You never call me Iwaizumi,” Hajime mumbled as he watched his friend leave.

The next day, Natsumi replaced Oikawa as Juliet.

…

_One punch was enough to make Rin shut up and apologize to Oikawa. However, the nosebleed that followed afterwards was also enough to get Hajime suspended for three days. Also grounded from playing outside and watching TV. His father didn’t find it wrong that Hajime stood up for his friend against a bully but he did ground him for hitting someone else. Hajime didn’t mind it that much. It was only three days after all but more importantly, it meant that people would stop bullying Oikawa._

_He did understood why they chose to gang up on him though. Oikawa was the weird, nerdy type who preferred keeping to himself rather than playing with a bunch of other people. Hajime was his only friend in class and the only one who knew him better than everyone else. The fact that Oikawa needed to wear glasses to see didn’t help at all either._

_Hajime thought a lot about what Rin said earlier that day before he grabbed Oikawa’s glasses. Why was Hajime friends with him in the first place? He clearly remembered meeting him during the field trip and that they became friends afterward, but he couldn’t exactly remember_ why. _It was also strange how they still remained friends after all those years while the different friendships in their class kind of just fell apart by themselves and re-formed into new ones._

_Hajime thought about all of this while lying in his bed and staring at the ceiling. It was still 7 o’ clock, an hour before his bedtime but Hajime didn’t feel like doing anything else. Suddenly, he heard a knock on his window and a muffled ‘Iwa-chan!’ that made him jump out of his bed._

_“W-who’s there?” he called out, turning on the lamp by his bed. Once the light was on, he spotted Oikawa’s face and hand waving at him from the window. Hajime rushed over and opened it._

_“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa grinned happily._

_“What are you doing? How did you get up here?” Hajime hissed, offering his friend a hand to pull him into his room._

_“Drainpipe,” Oikawa said simply, pointing at the large pipe near Hajime’s window._

_“Wh— How? Hajime spluttered while Oikawa sat down calmly on his bed as if he didn’t just climb up a window on the second floor._

_“Don’t worry Iwa-chan, I was super careful,” Oikawa said reassuringly._

_“You idiot, you could have broken your neck,” Hajime said. “Besides, why are you here anyway?”_

_“Well… I didn’t get the chance to thank you earlier for standing up for me,” Oikawa smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. “And since you were grounded I figured your parents might not let me see you.”_

_“That’s so stupid,” Hajime rolled his eyes._

_“As stupid as getting yourself suspended and grounded?” Oikawa said back. Hajime opened his mouth but couldn’t think of a comeback._

_“Yeah…” he admitted. “Thanks I guess… Oikawa.”_

_“No problem, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa grinned. “I think they’re going to stop picking on me from now on.”_

_“Really? That’s great,” Hajime said, sitting down on his bed next to Oikawa._

_“Yeah,” he nodded, pulling at the sleeve of his sweater. “But I can’t let you do that for me anymore either. I have to learn how to stand up for myself too, Iwa-chan.”_

_“Great, ‘cause that’s the last time I’m doing that for you too,” Hajime lied. He’d punch a hundred Rins if it meant being able to protect Oikawa. But he knew that his friend was right too. When he looked at Oikawa, he could clearly see the determination on his face. And he knew that Oikawa was too stubborn to quit once he set his mind on something. He had seen his friend practice tossing for hours just to perfect it._

_“Hey Iwa-chan, can I ask you something?” Oikawa said softly._

_“What is it?” Hajime sat up. Oikawa rubbed his arm and looked away._

_“Why did you become my friend?” he asked._

_‘So there’s the question,’ Hajime thought as he looked at his friend. He smiled at himself, already knowing his answer._

_“Should I give just one answer?” he asked. Oikawa looked up at him in surprise and Hajime grinned. “You always love talking about aliens and you get excited over every little thing which is kind of annoying. You always use my nickname even though I tell you not to. You never talk like a normal person and you say it’s because you’re part Timelord even though it’s not true. You hate bugs but still try to catch them if you think I’d find them cool. You practice volleyball with me for as long as I want even though you’re too tired already.”_

_“Wait? So what’s the reason?” Oikawa asked, confusion written all over his face._

_“Those things I just said,” Hajime answered. “It’s kinda dumb if I chose to be friends with you for just one reason.”_

_“You’re such a cheater Iwa-chan,” Oikawa laughed._

_“I have another reason too,” Hajime grinned. “You’d climb a drainpipe up to my room just to see me.”_

_“And I’ll do it again too,” Oikawa smiled back._

_“No. If you do I’ll kill you,” Hajime said seriously._

_“Scary Iwa-chan!” Oikawa bristled._

_“Now you better get back already or else your parents will find that you’re not home,” Hajime ordered._

_“Alright.” Oikawa stood up and headed to the window, already putting one foot out._

_“Be careful,” Hajime hissed at him, holding on to one of his hands._

_“I’ll be alright, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa grinned up at him, clinging on to the drainpipe with his other hand. As soon as the rest of his body was out of the window he let go of Hajime’s hand._

_“Watch your way down,” Hajime reminded him._

_“You worry too much,” Oikawa rolled his eyes and began to climb down, as nimble as a spider. ‘Who knew he could do that?’ Hajime thought as he watched him. Once Oikawa reached the bottom, he looked up at Hajime and waved one last time before running away._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, and did I mention there was going to be angst? MUCH ANGST? *cue evil laughter*. Please don't hate Natsumi though!!!! And the next chapter will be coming out next week too so the waiting game begins...


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So… you wanted us to be Romeo and Juliet?” Hajime said slowly, feeling his face heat up.
> 
> “Well, any other role would have been fine as well,” Oikawa shrugged. “It doesn’t matter as long as we were in the play.”
> 
> “Oh…” Hajime said, letting out a breath of relief but feeling a little disappointed as well. “I see.”
> 
> “And I wanted us in the play because… it’s our last year as seniors too,” Oikawa added softly. “Soon we’ll be in college. I thought we could do one last fun thing before leaving. Well, before I leave at least.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHA so sorry for the last chapter (no i'm actually not) there was much angst and everything. But here's a new one with so much sexual tension this time xD. Also, just a heads-up, this fic is ending pretty soon but worry not, I'll be having an epilogue. I already have an idea in mind but if you guys have suggestions just comment below.

“Hey, are you ready to go?” Hajime asked, standing beside Natsumi while she put her shoes on.

“A little nervous but yeah, I guess I am,” she smiled.

“Nervous?” Hajime chuckled. “How come?”

“Well I’m meeting your parents and everything,” Natsumi said, twisting the fingers of her hands together, a habit that Hajime noticed she did when she was nervous.

“Imagine how _I_ felt last Tuesday,” he countered. “Is it just me, or was your dad staring at me ninety-percent of the time I was there?” Just a few days ago, Natsumi had invited him for dinner at her place so that her parents could meet him. Her mother was nice enough and she cooked really well. Her father, on the other hand, asked him a ton of different questions and seemed to be watching him the whole time.

“Well, I guess he’s pretty surprised that I’ve finally dated a boy,” Natsumi shrugged and the two of them began walking. “I think he likes you actually.”

“He has a very strange way of showing it,” Hajime mumbled. Natsumi laughed and held his hand, threading her fingers through his. Hajime turned his head away to hide the blush spreading through his cheeks. He and Natsumi had been dating for about a week already. Hanamaki had ranted about it to no end while Matsukawa teased him, saying that he was going to be killed by one of the guys in class within the week. So far, Hajime hadn’t died yet.

He never imagined that he’d have a chance to date Natsumi. He never even really thought much about dating girls in the first place, which Hajime regretted. On his first date with Natsumi he didn’t have any ideas as to where to go or what to do. Luckily, Natsumi took the lead and suggested a movie date and some dinner after that which Hajime happily agreed to. He liked spending time with her. She was funny and witty and always managed to make him laugh. Dating Natsumi was great, but Hajime felt that something was missing. As if there was supposed to be more to it.

“Hey, are you okay?” Natsumi asked, squeezing his hand slightly. “Don’t tell me you’re feeling nervous too.”

“No,” Hajime shook his head. “I was just thinking.”

“About Oikawa?” Natsumi guessed. Hajime swallowed and kept silent. He hadn’t been thinking about Oikawa at the moment, but he did think about him quite often. Oikawa had been mostly MIA ever since that day when he saw Natsumi ask Hajime out. He no longer stopped by Hajime’s house in the morning or join him, Hanamaki and Matsukawa during lunch. Whenever Hajime asked him he always gave the ‘Sorry! I’ll be studying for a bit but you guys go ahead’ answer. It bothered Hajime to no end and as much as he wanted Oikawa to talk about it, the first move would have to be for him to ask. And Hajime wasn’t sure if he wanted to ask either.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Natsumi asked slowly when Hajime didn’t reply.

“Yeah, but maybe some other time,” Hajime said, flashing her a reassuring smile. “In the meantime, we’ve reached my house already.”

“Okay, I can do this.” Natsumi inhaled a deep breath and let it out through her mouth.

“Don’t worry, they’ll love you,” Hajime smiled, putting an arm around her shoulder as they walked up to the house. His mother opened the door before he did and stood smiling at the doorway when she saw the two of them.

“How did you—“

“I saw you guys through the window,” his mother interrupted.

“Ah, good evening Miss Iwaizumi,” Natsumi bowed. “Thank you for having me in your home.”

“You can just call me Mikoto,” Hajime’s mother laughed. “You must be Natsumi Kaori then. Hajime’s told me about you. Come in,” she waved them inside. Hajime and Natsumi exchanged looks and went inside the house, leaving their shoes by the rack near the door.

“That’s the first part done,” Natsumi said under her breath.

“You think too much,” Hajime whispered back.

“Of course I do. I’m a highly-intelligent human being,” Natsumi said, the corner of her mouth turning up in a smirk.

“Very highly intelligent,” Hajime grinned.

“I hope you like sukiyaki, Natsumi-san,” his mother said, stirring a pot on the stove.

“I sure do Mikoto-san,” Natsumi smiled. “And it smells really good too. Do you need some help with anything?” she asked, walking up to Hajime’s mother.

“Why, thank you very much,” she chuckled. “Can you keep stirring the pot while I chop up the mushrooms and leeks?”

“Sure thing,” Natsumi nodded, taking over the stove and stirring the pot. His mother stood at the counter and began to chop up some vegetables. Hajime smiled as he watched the two of them together. ‘She really does fit in well,’ he thought as Natsumi and his mother began talking about cooking recipes.

“Hajime, you help too,” his mother called at him.

“Alright Mom,” he said, walking over to the two of them. “What do you need me to do?”

“Dish duty,” she said automatically.

“Again?” Hajime groaned. He was always on dish duty but nonetheless, he rolled up his sleeves and began to wash the chopping board and knives that his mother used.

“My brother’s always on dish duty whenever my mom and I cook,” Natsumi chuckled.

“So is Hajime,” his mother said.

“You could try teaching me to cook so that Dad could be on dish duty,” Hajime suggested.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” his mother shook her head. “Not after what you did last time trying to cook a fried egg.”

“Why? What did he do?” Natsumi asked, leaning closer to Hajime’s mother.

“That was a long time ago Mom,” Hajime groaned. “Don’t tell her.”

“He thought that the egg would cook faster if he microwaved it,” his mother said anyway, smiling at Natsumi. “So after he fried it a bit in the oil, he put it inside the microwave. Pan and all!” Both Natsumi and his mother laughed at the story while Hajime kept on washing dishes in embarrassment.

“It was a long time ago,” he repeated.

“Well, you do seem like the type of person who’d burn water,” Natsumi pointed out.

“True. True,” his mother nodded. Suddenly, the sound of the door opening and closing came, signaling that Hajime’s father was home.

“I’m home!” his voice called out.

“In the kitchen dear,” his mother answered. “Natsumi-san’s here too.”

“Well, it seems we have a new addition to our kitchen.” His father came into the kitchen and grinned at the sight of the three of them.

“Good evening, Iwaizumi-san,” Natsumi bowed. “I believe we’ve met before too.”

“Right, you were the one wearing the Giants t-shirt at the game,” Hajime’s father said. “I’m glad to have the chance to meet you again.”

“Thank you for having me,” Natsumi smiled.

“Well, the sukiyaki’s almost done,” Hajime’s mother said, turning off the stove. “Could you set the table, Hajime?”

“Sure,” Hajime nodded, taking the bowls out of the cupboard overhead. After a few minutes, the table was set with the pot of sukiyaki placed in the center. His mother and father sat on one side of the table while Hajime and Natsumi sat at the opposite end. His mother was serving the sukiyaki in bowls and handing them out.

“So Natsumi,” his father said, leaning forward a bit on the table. “You’re a Giants fan.”

“Wow Dad. That’s really the first thing you’re going to say,” Hajime rolled his eyes.

“You and your volleyball,” his mother sighed.

“What? I just thought we could start on a topic she was comfortable in,” his father reasoned.

“That’s alright, Iwaizumi-san,” Natsumi chuckled. “Well, my dad got me into watching volleyball when I was a kid. The Giants are my all-time favorite team since you never expect what they’re going to do next.”

“Exactly why I like them,” Hajime’s father grinned. “I also got my son here into it after forcing him to watch a game on TV. Now he’s a volleyball player.”

“And a very good one at that,” Natsumi added.

“You’ve seen one of our games?” Hajime asked.

“I’ve seen all of your games,” Natsumi corrected. “I like sitting in the back since it gives me better view of the court. Your spikes really do look incredible.”

“Thanks,” Hajime smiled. “But it’s mostly Oikawa’s doing though. You can’t spike without a toss.” He missed volleyball practice a lot now that it ended, most of all the feeling of the ball in his hands after Oikawa tossed it and the wordless communication the two of them had.

“Well,” Hajime’s father cleared his throat. “Who are your favorite players then, Natsumi?” he asked.

“Definitely Koharu and Kiriyama,” Natsumi grinned. “The quick they did during the game was amazing. It was quite a surprise though, finding out that they were gay.”

“Yeah. A very unpleasant surprise. But a surprise nonetheless,” Hajime’s father shrugged and took a sip of his soup. Natsumi’s smile fell and she looked down at her bowl.

“Yeah, it was…” she agreed.

…

“Thank you very much for the meal and for having me at your house,” Natsumi bowed as she stood with Hajime at the doorway of their house.

“You can come anytime you like,” Hajime’s mother smiled. “It was very nice having you around. Thank you for helping me cook too.”

“It’s no problem, Mikoto-san,” Natsumi returned the smile. “I’ll bring my mom’s recipe for oyakodon next time.”

“Maybe next time we could go watch a game together,” Hajime’s father suggested. “You, me, and Hajime. Maybe an Eagles game instead of a Giants one this time.”

“Yes, that would be great,” Natsumi nodded.

“Alright, we’ll be going now,” Hajime said, opening the door for Natsumi. She gave one last wave at his parents before Hajime closed the door.

“Phew, I guess that’s over then,” Natsumi said, letting out a breath of relief.

“You did great,” Hajime smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder. “My parents loved you. I could tell.”

“Yeah, they did,” Natsumi nodded as the two of them walked down the sidewalk. “Your dad, he doesn’t seem to like this Koharu and Kiriyama thing,” she observed.

“Oh yeah…” Hajime rubbed the back of his head. “He really doesn’t. When he saw them kiss on the court he just stood up and left saying that he was looking for some soda.”

“I see…” Natsumi nodded. “How about you then..?” she asked slowly. “How do you feel about… those kinds of things?”

“Me?” Hajime asked, looking up at the sky as he thought of his answer. “Well, I don’t really see what’s wrong with it actually. It’s kind of like mixing colors, isn’t it? If you mix red and blue together to make a good color, then you can mix red and yellow too to make another good color.”

“That’s a horrible analogy, Romeo-san,” Natsumi laughed.

“Well, do you have a better one?” Hajime challenged.

“Why would you need an analogy to explain it in the first place?” Natsumi shrugged, looking up at the sky and smiling. “It’s just love, isn’t it? That’s the only explanation you need for any kind of relationship.” Hajime fell silent for a minute, mulling over her words before smiling to himself as well.

“You’re right. There doesn’t have to be an explanation. It’s just love,” he said.

“Well, this is where I leave,” Natsumi said, stopping in front of the gate of her house. “Thanks for the dinner and walking me home, Romeo-san.”

“No problem, Juliet-san,” Hajime smiled. Natsumi gave his hand one final squeeze before opening the gate and going inside. Hajime lingered for a while before he turned back to walk home. He thought about Natsumi cooking dinner with his mother in the kitchen and of the four of them eating together at the table afterwards. She really did fit right in and Hajime knew that his parents would love having her around again. Hajime dared himself to imagine how it would be like further into the future, not just with Natsumi but with another girl nonetheless. Having a regular sort of family just like his parents had with him. His parents would love that. But Hajime wasn’t sure if that was what he wanted.

Hajime looked down at his hand, the hand that Natsumi had been holding just a while ago while they walked to her house. He remembered the time when Oikawa had held it for a moment back when he had visited him at his house. He remembered the electrical charges that ran through his skin before Oikawa took away his own hand. For some reason, Hajime didn’t really feel anything during those times when he held Natsumi’s hand.

‘Love, huh?’ he thought, closing his hand into a fist.

…

  _“Tooru, are you sure you’re ready for this?” his mother asked again for the umpteenth time._

_“Yes, Mom,” Oikawa rolled his eyes._

_“Well you don’t_ have _to do it today. You can do it next week. Or next year if you like,” his mother advised._

_“I can’t do it next year Mom,” Oikawa argued. “I have to do it now before I go to middle school.”_

_“Okay, okay, I understand,” his mother sighed. “But getting contact lenses is a really big responsibility Tooru.”_

_“I know. I read all about it Mom,” Oikawa replied cheerily. Hajime watched the exchange in the backseat of the car wordlessly. He only got the news three days ago, that Oikawa was going to get contact lenses. Hajime saw Oikawa without glasses quite often enough, especially during their sleepovers. But he found it quite hard to imagine Oikawa without them for a long period of time. It was as if his glasses were already a part of Oikawa._

_At least they used to be anyway._

_“Well, here we are,” his mother said a bit hesitantly as she parked in front of the eye clinic._

_“Alright! Let’s go Iwa-chan!” Oikawa cheered, taking hold of Hajime’s arm and pulling him to the clinic with him._

_“Geez, slow down Oikawa,” Hajime grumbled as he was pulled along. The two of them stopped in front of the door to wait for Oikawa’s mother to catch up. Oikawa had grown quite a bit over the summer after school ended. He used to be shorter than Hajime by a few inches but now they were of the same height. That knowledge made Hajime check his height at least once a week._

_“Here we are then,” Oikawa’s mother said once she caught up with them. “Last chance Tooru. There’s no turning back now,” she put a hand on her son’s shoulder._

_“I’m ready Mom,” Oikawa said determinedly. “I really, really want this.”_

_“Alright then,” his mother pursed her lips and opened the door to the clinic. Inside, the walls were all painted white with a few patterns in blue here and there. There was a waiting room with chairs, a stack of magazines, and a fish tank against the wall. A lady behind the desk greeted them when they entered._

_“Hello, welcome to Doctor Akira’s clinic. How may we help you?”_

_“My son is getting contact lenses. We already booked an appointment beforehand,” Oikawa’s mother explained at the desk._

_“So then you’re Miss Oikawa then,” the nurse said, looking down at her computer. Oikawa’s mother nodded. “Right this way then please,” the nurse smiled, showing them to a door that had ‘Doctor Akira’ posted on it._

_“Um, Auntie, I think I’ll wait out here,” Hajime said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and kicking the ground with his shoe._

_“Huh? How come Iwa-chan?” Oikawa asked._

_“I don’t think I can handle all that ‘putting stuff into your own eyeballs’ thing,” Hajime answered._

_“Okay Hajime-chan. Just wait for us outside then, okay?” Oikawa’s mother smiled at him._

_“See you Iwa-chan!” Oikawa waved._

_“Good luck,” Hajime called after him before the door closed shut. He was alone in the waiting room so he walked over to the fish tank against the wall. There were a couple of goldfish in the tank as well as a few black fishes that Hajime didn’t know the name to. He wasn’t that into fish._

_Oikawa’s announcement that he would get contact lenses was pretty sudden. Hajime thought that he was just joking until Auntie told him that he was serious about it. Hajime guessed that it was because of what Rin did a few weeks ago when he broke Oikawa’s glasses. Maybe he wanted to stop looking like a nerd because of his glasses so that people would stop picking on him. Either way, Hajime was definitely going to find out what the reason was._

…

“A glooming peace this morning with it brings. The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head. Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things. Some shall be pardoned, and some punished,” recited the Prince who was played by Ren, one of Hajime’s classmates. A few of the other actors, including him and Natsumi, were squished into a curtained-off area that was supposed to serve as the ‘backstage.’ It was the second to the last rehearsal the Cultural Festival when the play was finally going to happen. Hajime felt a surge of anticipation as he watched Ren say the closing lines.

“For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo,” he finished.

“Okay spotlight, stay there for a few more seconds and cut!” Nakamura yelled. “Alright, that’s a wrap everyone.”

“Finally,” Natsumi breathed out as she and Hajime stepped out of the ‘backstage’ area.

“You can say that again,” Hajime huffed. Nakamura had them working to the bone earlier as they rehearsed all day. Onstage, Hanamaki practically fell to the floor as soon as everything was over. Hajime shook his head but joined him onstage nonetheless.

“Hey, are you dead yet?” he asked, poking Hanamaki’s head where the shiny bald cap was.

“In a few minutes you’ll be the dead one if you don’t stop that,” Hanamaki growled. “Do you know how long I practiced just for that piece?” Earlier, Hanamaki had a piece that was practically forty lines long. How he was even able to remember half of it was a wonder to Hajime.

“Must have taken a shitload of practice,” he said.

“It did,” Hanamaki huffed. “Why couldn’t I just say something like ‘Juliet drank a potion to make her seem dead and Romeo was supposed to know but someone screwed up along the way so he didn’t know. Then he just decided to kill himself and Juliet woke up and killed herself too. The end. It’s all my fault, please punish me if you want.’”

“That would have been much better,” Hajime agreed, nodding his head.

“Hey, Iwa,” Hanamaki sat up. “Do you think something’s up with Oikawa?”

“Don’t we all think that?” Hajime sighed, throwing a glance at Oikawa who had not moved from his place near the dressing area where he was busy reading a book.

“Hey you two,” Matsukawa came in, sitting beside the two of them on the stage.

“Hey,” Hajime greeted.

“M-matsukawa,” Hanamaki jumped slightly.

“Need water?” Matsukawa asked, offering Hanamaki his water bottle.

“No way. I’m not drinking from your backwash,” Hanamaki grimaced, pushing the bottle back.

“Really? I thought you didn’t care,” Matsukawa looked at him with a puzzled expression before offering to water bottle to Hajime. “How ‘bout you then?”

“Sure,” Hajime said, taking the bottle from him and drinking the water. His mouth felt dry from all the lines he had to recite earlier. He was dead tired and half of him wanted to throw Nakamura along with his Director’s Seat out the window.

“Ew, you’re basically indirectly kissing Matsukawa there,” Hanamaki made a face at him.

“So did you. We did it all the time during practice,” Hajime replied.

“Yeah, but those didn’t count!” Hanamaki sat up instantly, his cheeks reddening.

“What?” Hajime and Matsukawa both chorused.

“N-nothing,” Hanamaki shook his head and walked away.

“I wonder what’s eating him,” Hajime said as he watched him leave.

“You never know with that guy,” Matsukawa shook his head. “By the way, do you think something’s up with Oikawa?”

“Why do you guys always come to me whenever Oikawa’s in one of his moods?” Hajime cried exasperatedly. “Hanamaki asked me that same question just a few minutes ago.”

“The two of you are childhood friends, aren’t you?” Matsukawa reasoned. “And besides, I think you’d be able to tell that this isn’t just ‘one of his moods.’” Hajime bit his lip and looked down.

“Yeah, this isn’t one of his moods,” he nodded. “But I don’t even know what’s causing it.”

“Therefore, as President of Oikawa-related Matters, it’s your duty to find out what that is,” Matsukawa said, laying a hand on Hajime’s shoulder.

“Why am I President of Oikawa-related Matters?” Hajime protested. “And who started it anyway?”

“Me and Hanamaki,” Matsukawa answered automatically. “There was no contest as to who was president anyway, since you’re his best friend.”

“Yeah, I know,” Hajime sighed.

“Do your duty, President,” Matsukawa said solemnly.

“Well then if I’m President of Oikawa-related Matters, you’re the President of Hanamaki-related Matters. So now it’s your duty to find out what’s eating him.”

“I know, I know,” Matsukawa said, standing up. “Anyway, good luck tomorrow. Full day rehearsal again,” he winked at Hajime before walking away. ‘So I’m President of Oikawa-related Matters, huh?’ Hajime thought, looking over to the place that was previously occupied by Oikawa. But instead of his friend being there, only a book remained on the floor. Hajime got off the stage and headed towards it.

“Advanced Chemistry,” Hajime read the title out loud. It was the book that everyone in their class had to use for their Chemistry class. He opened it to the first page and sure enough, Oikawa’s name was written there in the upper left corner. ‘Idiot must have left it,’ Hajime guessed, tucking the book under his arm. He had no choice but to return it to him since they had Chemistry homework the next day. In a way, Hajime was thankful Oikawa left his book.

…

After changing out of his costume and leaving it at the hanger near the ‘dressing area,’ Hajime headed to the locker area to meet up with Natsumi. They usually walked home together after school. After a while, she finally arrived to meet him.

“Iwaizumi-san,” she greeted. “Sorry, did you wait long?”

“No, only for a while,” Hajime said. “Are you ready to go?”

“Ah, sorry Mitsuko and I were planning to go somewhere after school,” Natsumi apologized, chewing her lip.

“That’s okay,” Hajime reassured her. “Have fun then.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Natsumi smiled. “You better get some rest too because it’s—“

“I know,” Hajime interrupted. “Whole day rehearsal,” he smiled grimly.

“Yeah,” Natsumi laughed. “See you.”

“Bye,” Hajime waved before Natsumi left. As he was walking towards his shoe locker, he spotted Yahaba crouched down behind one of the lockers. Hajime frowned in confusion and silently crept up behind him, crouching down behind the locker as well.

“So, who are we waiting for?” he whispered.

“I-Iwaizumi-senpai!” Yahaba jumped.

“What are you doing here, Yahaba?”

“I wanted to see who the mystery mail-sender is,” Yahaba whispered back. “So I’ve been waiting here in the morning and in the afternoon to see who it is.”

“You could have planted a camera or something in your locker,” Hajime suggested.

“I already did that. But I want to catch her in the act too,” Yahaba said.

“So how long—“

“Shhh!” Yahaba hissed. “Someone’s coming.” Hajime shut his mouth when he heard the sound of footsteps. He and Yahaba peeked from behind the locker as the sound grew louder and louder until…

‘Kyotani?’ Hajime mentally screamed when he saw the familiar blonde-haired head of his junior. He and Yahaba exchanged surprised looks before turning their heads back to watch. Kyotani looked around to see if anyone was watching before opening Yahaba’s locker quietly and leaving a note inside before closing it shut. ‘So it really is Kyotani after all,’ Hajime thought, looking down at Yahaba and wondering what he was thinking. Kyotani lingered for a while in front of the locker with a small, shy smile on his face. Hajime didn’t even know that Kyotani was capable of smiling such a smile. Hajime grinned as he watched him leave. ‘I guess the Mad Dog is actually really soft on the inside.’

“That was the strangest thing I ever saw,” Hajime said out loud once Kyotani left. Yahaba stood up and went over to his locker, taking the white piece of paper out and reading the note inside.

“It really is him,” Yahaba mumbled.

“So, what are you going to do about it?” Hajime asked. “Are you going to confront him or—“

“I’m not going to do anything,” Yahaba shook his head. “Except maybe wait by the lockers like I always do.”

“Huh? How come?” Hajime frowned.

“You saw that smile earlier, didn’t you?” Yahaba said, looking down at the note in his hands. “No way am I going to miss the chance to not see it again,” he grinned up at Hajime.

“I see,” he chuckled, ruffling up Yahaba’s hair. “I’ll keep it a secret to if you like. But tell me when something new happens, okay?” he said as he started walking towards the school exit.

“I will!” Yahaba called after him.

…

Oikawa’s mother was the one who answered the door. “Oh, Hajime,” she smiled when she saw him. “It’s so nice to see you.”

“Hello Auntie,” Hajime smiled back. “Um, Oikawa left his book in school earlier and we have homework the next day so I came to give it back.”

“Oh, how nice of you dear,” she said. “Tooru’s in the backyard. I think he’s in the treehouse.” She opened the door and beckoned to Hajime to come in.

“The treehouse?” Hajime echoed as he stepped inside. “That was such a long time ago. He still uses it?”

“Yes he does, can you believe it?” Oikawa’s mother shook her head and chuckled. “Will you be staying for dinner? It’s pretty late.”

“Sorry, but I think I’ll only be here for a little while. Mom expects me to be home,” Hajime apologized.

“Well okay dear. Just tell me if you change your mind. There’s more than enough for everyone,” Oikawa’s mother said before heading into the kitchen while Hajime went out to the backyard. Outside, a huge tree grew out of the ground near Oikawa’s bedroom window. The ‘treehouse’ that Hajime and Oikawa used to go to when they were younger wasn’t actually much of a house. It was more like a wooden floor attached to the tree with wooden steps nailed to the trunk. Even though it was dark out and early evening, Hajime could still see Oikawa’s silhouette as he was sitting down on top with his longs legs dangling in the air.

“Hey, Oikawa,” Hajime called, walking towards the tree. As he walked closer, he could make out Oikawa’s face as he sat up to look down at him.

“Iwaizumi?” he heard him say. “What are you doing here?”

“You left your Chemistry book, idiot,” Hajime said, holding up the book for him to see. “I’m coming up.”

“You can just leave it there. You don’t have to—“

“I’m coming up,” Hajime interrupted him. He walked up to the tree trunk and began climbing up the tree, careful to watch where he was putting his foot. Once he reached the top, he crawled over to sit down next to Oikawa, dangling his legs in the air as well.

“Wow, this thing’s pretty strong,” he observed. “How long has it been? Seven years give or take?”

“You didn’t have to bring it all the way here,” Oikawa said. He was wearing a green t-shirt and black shorts, his glasses placed it on his face. “I already did my Chemistry homework anyway.”

“Really? Well, I’m already used to wasting my time for you,” Hajime shrugged.

“Mean Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said. His response didn’t have much emotion in them but Hajime felt elated slightly at the sound of his nickname being said.

“Hey, I could at least use a little gratitude here,” Hajime said, bumping Oikawa’s shoulder playfully, earning him a small smile from his friend.

“Fine. Thank you for bringing my Chemistry book all the way here for me even though I didn’t need it.”

“You’re welcome,” Hajime smiled. “What were you doing up here anyway?”

“Stargazing,” Oikawa answered.

“Hmm… It’s kinda hard to see the stars through all the leaves here, isn’t it?” Hajime frowned as he looked up to find even more branches of leaves above.

“Not those stars,” Oikawa chuckled, placing a hand against Hajime’s neck and tilting his head to make him face his bedroom window. “Those stars,” he pointed. Hajime looked at Oikawa’s window, trying not to pay too much attention to the hand that was placed against his neck, and found dozens of glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the ceiling. In the darkness, the stars glowed brightly enough for Hajime to see them clearly.

“You still have those?” he asked, a faint smile present on his face.

“Not the old ones. I just replaced them over the years. These ones I just put up now,” Oikawa answered, staring at the window. Hajime turned to look at him, the all-too familiar face he had known for years that now seemed a little different now to him. This was someone Hajime had known for years, a constant presence in his life. He had seen this face every morning before they went to school and after, had heard his voice a million times, had spiked his tosses countlessly. He should be bored with Oikawa by now. But when Hajime looked at the glow-in-the-dark stars that Oikawa had in his bedroom, he knew that Oikawa would never cease to surprise him. And although Hajime kept on denying it, Oikawa was probably even more special to him now than when he was all those years ago.

Nothing had changed, except for the way Hajime saw him.

“Hey, do you want to know why I nominated you to become Romeo?” Oikawa asked, breaking the silence between them.

“Didn’t you tell me that before?” Hajime raised an eyebrow.

“That wasn’t the only reason,” Oikawa said, looking down at the ground below them. “I nominated you because I knew Makki and Mattsun would probably nominate me for Juliet if I did. And if that happened, then we’d both be in the play.”

“So… you wanted us to be Romeo and Juliet?” Hajime said slowly, feeling his face heat up.

“Well, any other role would have been fine as well,” Oikawa shrugged. “It doesn’t matter as long as we were in the play.”

“Oh…” Hajime said, letting out a breath of relief but feeling a little disappointed as well. “I see.”

“And I wanted us in the play because… it’s our last year as seniors too,” Oikawa added softly. “Soon we’ll be in college. I thought we could do one last fun thing before leaving. Well, before I leave at least.”

“What do you mean you’ll be leaving?” Hajime frowned. “We’re all leaving, aren’t we?”

“Well, I’ll be the one _leaving_ leaving…” Oikawa bit his lip and looked down. “My dad found a way to get me a scholarship in the US. And it’s in a really good school so I should take it…” A few moments of silence passed between them as Oikawa’s words sank in. He was planning on _leaving._ Leaving for the US which was millions of miles away. Hajime hadn’t thought that much about college but he knew enough to know that he wanted to stay in Japan to study. Oikawa going to a separate college in another part of Japan was one thing, but going to another country was something completely different.

“Is that why you’ve been studying like crazy?” Hajime asked, finally breaking the silence between them.

“Yeah,” Oikawa nodded. “Even though I’ve already been accepted I still have to maintain good grades in my last year.”

“Idiot, why didn’t you tell me?” Hajime scowled, bumping Oikawa’s shoulder with his own. “Hanamaki was all worried and everything and Matsukawa was the one who pushed me to ask you since I’m the President of Oikawa-related Matters.”

“President of Oikawa-related Matters?” Oikawa cracked up.

“It doesn’t matter,” Hajime snapped. “But you should have told us, or me at least.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m your best friend, right?” Hajime said, looking at Oikawa directly in the eyes. A flicker of emotion Hajime couldn’t read passed through them before Oikawa broke his gaze and looked down.

“And it will only stay that way, huh?” Oikawa mumbled, smiling to himself. “You should probably be going now, Iwaizumi. Your mom’s going to be worried.” Hajime opened his mouth to argue but then thought twice about it.

“You’re right. I should,” he nodded, sliding back to the treehouse’s ‘entrance’ by the floor. Hajime looked down and placed his foot securely against a wooden step before moving his body down.

“Watch your step,” Oikawa reminded him. Hajime looked up and saw his face looming through the gap in the floor above him. His bangs almost fell across his eyes and Hajime felt an urge to push them back with his fingers. Instead, he tore his gaze away from him and concentrated on going down the tree.

“See you,” he said before continuing his way downwards until he reached the ground. As he was walking away, Hajime stopped and turned around to look back at the treehouse. Oikawa was seated over the edge again with his legs dangling in the air, gazing at the stars.

…

_Oikawa came bounding out of the room an hour later. “Iwa-chan!” he exclaimed, running over to him in the waiting room. “I’m wearing them already!” He leaned in close to Hajime and grinned. “I can see you really clearly now.”_

_“Get your ugly face out of my face,” Hajime scowled, batting him away with one hand. Oikawa pouted and stood back up. Now that he didn’t have his glasses on, his brown eyes looked even bigger than they usually did. His unused glasses hung on the collar of his t-shirt._

_“Now I don’t have to worry about my glasses fogging up when I drink hot chocolate,” Oikawa grinned as he sat down on the chair next to Hajime. “And I don’t have to worry about them falling off during gym class. And I look better without glasses on.”_

_“But I liked your glasses,” Hajime mumbled under his breath._

_“What?” Oikawa asked, leaning closer to Hajime to hear him better._

_“I said I liked your glasses, you idiot,” Hajime said in a louder voice. “I know Rin and those other people at school think you’re a nerd and everything because of your glasses but why the hell should that matter?”_

_“You think I got contacts because of what Rin did?” Oikawa smiled at him._

_“Y-yeah. That’s the reason, right?” Hajime frowned in confusion._

_“Well, what Rin did was really mean and everything and I hate him for it but he’s just a bully. He can’t do anything else,” Oikawa said._

_“So, why did you get contacts?” Hajime asked._

_“Because it’s hard to play volleyball with glasses on,” Oikawa answered, grinning at Hajime. “I mean you’ve seen how they always fell of whenever I missed a receive or jumped too high for a toss. And… you want to join the volleyball team when we get into Kitagawa Daiichi, right Iwa-chan?”_

_“Yeah…” Hajime nodded._

_“Well, I can’t become your super awesome setter if I wear glasses on time during most of our games. They’d get in the way. And besides, contacts would me make see way better during the game,” Oikawa added. “I got contacts because I really want to play volleyball with you, Iwa-chan.”_

_“Oh, I see,” Hajime looked down, suddenly feeling ashamed of himself for thinking otherwise. “You should have told me that before, idiot.”_

_“Wait, I didn’t tell you why?” Oikawa asked, cocking his head to the side. “I thought I told you the reason already…”_

_“Geez, how could you be that forgetful?” Hajime rolled his eyes and chopped Oikawa on the forehead._

_“Sorry, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa rubbed the back of his head, smiling sheepishly._

_“We’ll make it for sure,” Hajime said determinedly. “When we get to Kitagawa Daiichi, we’ll the best volleyball players in the team.” Oikawa looked up at him and grinned as well._

_“Of course! You and me together, Iwa-chan!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO. MUCH. SEXUAL. TENSION.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “That’s because I get so damn nervous when I’m around you, you idiot!” Hajime suddenly yelled out loud. He looked up at Oikawa who was staring at him with wide eyes. He looked like he just rolled out of bed with his messy bedhead and Tardis t-shirt. ‘He still wears that to sleep?’ Hajime thought incredulously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUUUYYYYYSSSSSS
> 
> Thank you so much for all the comments I received when I posted the last chapter. Honestly, you guys know how to get a writer running. And I was so pumped up I wrote a whole new one for you guys because I'm also pretty excited to see how you'll react to this. Anyway, thank you so much we're almost done. The next chapter's the last chapter but there will be an epilogue. I still don't know how long it will be though so I'm not going to update the chapter length just yet.
> 
> Anyway, just keep up those comments!! I honestly just love reading them.

“Hajime, are you ready to go?” his mother called from downstairs. Hajime double-checked his things in his room. Costume on a hanger, check. Prop sword, check. Schoolbag with extra clothes, water and script, check. Wallet for money to spend in the Cultural Festival, check.

“Yeah, I’m all set,” Hajime called back, carrying his schoolbag on his shoulder and the costume and prop sword in another hand.

“What about your shoes?” his mother asked as soon as Hajime went down the stairs.

“Oh, right!” he groaned and went back up to his room. “Thanks Mom!” he got his shoes which were on his chair by the desk before going downstairs again.

“How about your breakfast, dear?” his mother asked.

“Sorry, I’ll just grab something in school. Nakamura will kill me if I’m late for last-minute rehearsals,” Hajime said. “The play’s at one o’ clock, okay?”

“We’ll be there,” his mother reassured him. “Do your best, okay?” she smiled.

“I will, Mom,” Hajime nodded before leaving the house. He walked as quickly as he could without dropping any of his things to school, checking his watch from time to time. Once he got to the gym, he almost ran into one of his classmates carrying a box full of costumes.

The ‘dressing area’ was moved to the far side of the gym to make room for the rows of chairs on the floor. The stage was all set with a large, painted castle set up in the background. Hajime spotted Matsukawa setting a few trees on the stage as well. The lights and sound guys were set up at the back of the gym, testing the spotlights on the stage.

“Iwaizumi, there you are,” Nakamura called from the lights and sound area.

“Sorry, am I late?” Hajime yelled back.

“Late for being early,” Nakamura replied. “Get onstage already but without your costume first. We’ll have a run-through. Tell the other actors too.”

“On it,” Hajime nodded, jogging over to the dressing area where he saw most of the actors have gathered. He easily spotted Natsumi among them, helping Mitsuko sort out the costumes.

“Iwaizumi-san,” Natsumi greeted when she walked close.

“Hey. Nakamura said we’ll be having a run-through of the whole play in a minute but without costumes yet. Spread the word,” Hajime said.

“Run-through. No costume. In a few minutes. Got it,” Natsumi nodded and headed off to tell the other actors.

“May I have your costume, Iwaizumi-san?” Mitsuko asked, holding her hands out.

“Oh right, here.” Hajime handed her his costume, shoes, and prop sword.

“Do you know if Oikawa-san is coming?” she asked, placing Hajime’s costume on a hanger. “His costume is still here. He never brought it home.”

“Well he should, even if he is an understudy,” Hajime muttered.

“Hey, am I late?” Hanamaki appeared beside Hajime, leaning against his shoulder to catch his breath.

“Late for being early, apparently,” Hajime said, echoing Nakamura’s words.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It doesn’t matter. Anyway, we’re having a run-through in a few minutes. No costumes,” Hajime said.

“Nooooo,” Hanamaki groaned. “I’ll be tired even before the play begins.”

“Hanamaki-san, can I have your costume please?” Mitsuko asked, holding her hands out.

“Sure,” Hanamaki said, giving over his friar robe draped carelessly over a hanger. “Oh and by the way, Mitsuko-san. I accidentally left the uh… bald cap… at home. Sorry, but I guess I’ll have to do the play without it.” Hanamaki smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

“Oh, don’t worry. We have extra ones,” Mitsuko smiled. “Thank goodness that we do anyway.” She placed Hanamaki’s costume on the hanger rack before pushing it away to the side.

“Nice try, man. Nice try,” Hajime laughed, clapping a sulky Hanamaki on the back.

“I can’t wait until this stupid play is over,” he groaned.

…

“Spotlight stay on and 3…2…1… Cut!” Nakamura yelled from his position in front of the stage.

“God, finally it’s over,” Hajime sighed from his place in the makeshift backstage.

“Tell me about it,” Natsumi rolled her eyes as the two of them got out. “If I have to hear Nakamura say ‘Cut!’ or ‘That’s a wrap!’ again, I’m going to murder someone.”

“That’s a wrap, everyone!” Nakamura added. Natsumi closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath.

“Keep it together Natsumi,” Hajime chuckled, placing a hand on her shoulder. The two of them passed by the front of the stage where Shirokawa stood, making announcements.

“We’ll be taking a break now. Everyone use the time to eat your lunch or look around the fair if you want to since we won’t have time to do it afterwards. We’ll all meet back here at twelve o’ clock to start putting on costumes and getting the lapels ready,” Shirokawa called out.

“Only one hour for a break?” Hajime muttered, looking at Natsumi. She didn’t seem to hear what he said; standing frozen in place as she looked up at the ceiling. “Natsumi?” Hajime asked.

It all happened way too fast.

The thing that Natsumi was staring at was actually one of the stage lights overhead. One of them was dangling by its wire right over the place where Shirokawa was standing. By the time Hajime noticed it there, the wire had snapped, sending the stage light crashing downwards.

“Shiro—“ Hajime began to yell but Natsumi acted quicker. She ran forward, knocking Shirokawa out of the stage light’s path. The two girls fell to the floor just as the stage light crashed to the floor. Hajime quickly ran to check on the two of them. The stage light landed directly on Natsumi’s leg and pieces of it were scattered on the floor. Broken glass was everywhere, even on Natsumi’s leg which, now that Hajime had a closer look, was bleeding from a few cuts. But Natsumi didn’t seem to feel a thing.

“Ai?! Are you okay?! Are you hurt?!” Natsumi asked. Hajime could hear the panic in her voice. Their classmates heard the commotion and soon began to crowd around them.

“Kaori…” Shirokawa said dazedly. Slowly, she shook her head. “I’m alright…”

“Natsumi, your leg,” Hajime said, crouching down behind them and gently lifting whatever was left off the stage light. Natsumi’s leg was even worse than Hajime initially thought. Other than the cuts made by the broken glass, the area near her ankle seemed to be swollen.

“What happened?” Nakamura demanded, pushing his way through the crowd.

“The stage light fell and it landed on Natsumi’s leg,” Hajime explained, showing him the smashed stage light. Natsumi tried to move her leg and winced in pain.

“God, it hurts like hell,” she gasped.

“Don’t move it, Kaori,” Shirokawa ordered, standing up to look at the damage.

“The cuts don’t seem too deep,” Nakamura observed, gently removing the pieces of glass from Natsumi’s leg. “But there could be a fracture too. The stage light was pretty heavy and fell from the gym’s ceiling too.”

“I don’t think she’ll be able to walk either,” Shirokawa muttered, biting her lip.

“Right, her leg needs to be checked too,” Nakamura nodded, standing up.

“I can bring her to the nurse,” Mitsuko volunteered.

“Better ask the nurse to come here instead. We don’t want to make it worse than it already is,” Nakamura said. Mitsuko nodded and ran off to get the nurse.

“The play starts in two hours,” Natsumi pointed out. “We need Oikawa to play Juliet.”

“Is he here?” Nakamura asked Hajime. “Have you seen him?”

“No,” Hajime shook his head.

“He’s not answering his phone either,” Matsukawa said. “But we could look for him.”

“Yeah, we still have time before the play starts,” Hanamaki added.

“Alright, I’m leaving it to you guys,” Nakamura nodded.

“I’ll look for him too,” Hajime stood up. “There’s a chance he might still be at home since none of us have seen him here.”

“Okay, Hanamaki and Matsukawa, look for Oikawa in school. Hajime, you head over to his house,” Nakamura ordered.

“On it,” Matsukawa and Hanamaki said in unison before running out the gym.

“Sorry, you have to go through so much trouble just for me,” Natsumi apologized.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find Oikawa,” Hajime told her. “You can count on us.”

“Go get your Julius then, Romeo-san,” Natsumi grinned. Hajime nodded and headed out. It was only once he was outside of the gym when Natsumi’s words sank in.

…

Hajime immediately sped towards the door once Oikawa’s house was in sight. He knocked five times and leaned against the doorframe as he tried to catch his breath after running all the way from the school gym. ‘I’m going to strangle Oikawa’s neck for not answering his stupid phone,’ he thought.

“Hajime-chan? What are you doing here?” Oikawa’s mother asked, looking at him in confusion once she answered the door.

“Auntie! Is Oikawa home?!” Hajime demanded.

“Why yes, he’s in the backyard,” she said, opening the door wider. “You can come—“

“Thank you. Sorry, it’s important. I need to take him to school right away,” Hajime said quickly, running past her into the backyard. Oikawa was up in the treehouse again with his legs dangling over the side. Hajime had no time to climb up anymore so he just stood under the tree and yelled.

“Oikawa! Come down!”

“Iwaizumi?” Oikawa looked over the side, frowning in confusion.

“Come down already! Why weren’t you in school, you idiot?!” Hajime continued to yell.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Oikawa crawled towards the exit of the treehouse and began to climb down. “Just stop yelling already.”

“Hurry, we don’t have much time. The play starts in almost an hour,” Hajime demanded.

“Will you just explain what’s going on for a minute?” Oikawa said exasperatedly once he reached the ground. “And besides, I’m not going to the play. Natsumi’s Juliet, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, but she broke her leg earlier.”

“What? How?”

“Long story,” Hajime shook his head. “But we need you _now._ There’s no one else to play Juliet and you’re the understudy.”

“So it’s just because I’m the understudy for Natsumi- _san_ then,” Oikawa said softly, looking down. “But you saw how I was last week. I just… don’t think I have it in me to do Juliet. And you act better when you’re with Natsumi anyw—“

“That’s because I get so damn nervous when I’m around you, you idiot!” Hajime suddenly yelled out loud. He looked up at Oikawa who was staring at him with wide eyes. He looked like he just rolled out of bed with his messy bedhead and Tardis t-shirt. ‘He still wears that to sleep?’ Hajime thought incredulously.

“I don’t believe it,” Oikawa shook his head, sounding as if he was trying to convince himself as well. “I mean, aren’t you always nervous when you’re onstage.”

“It’s different when I’m with you,” Hajime flushed, looking away from him. “And it’s not just when I’m onstage. I-It’s crazy. We’ve been best friends for years and I only started feeling this now and I really don’t like it because it’s so annoying and _you’re_ annoying and everything. I-I can’t even drink from the same bottle as you because I keep on thinking about how your lips have been on the same place.”

“Iwa-chan…” Oikawa said softly, his voice barely heard but just loud enough for Hajime to hear. He smiled at the sound of his familiar nickname. He could remember the sound of Oikawa struggling to pronounce his full name which ended up with him creating a nickname instead. When Hajime looked up at him, his nose and cheeks were bright red.

“I…well…” he stammered. “I still can’t do Juliet as well as I could before. I don’t remember most of my lines.”

“So? Just improvise,” Hajime shrugged, feeling glad for the change in topic.

“Improvising is not that easy, Iwa-chan!”

“But I want you to be Juliet, or Julius, whatever it’s called. I know I did great while I was playing Romeo with Natsumi but I liked it when it was you who played the role. You’re the one who got me into it anyway. And I know practice was hell and the lines are so cheesy I want to throw up and sometimes Nakamura just gets so annoying I want to throw him out the window in his Director’s Seat. But it was fun and it was fun because I was doing it with you,” Hajime said quickly.

“But—“

“You’re either coming with me or I’ll drag you with me!” Hajime yelled, grabbing Oikawa’s shirt collar. “I didn’t memorize all those stupid lines for nothing.”

“Scary Iwa-chan!” Oikawa held up his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright, I’ll go. But can you let me get my contacts first?”

“Nope, no time,” Hajime shook his head and grasped Oikawa’s wrist, pulling him with him.

“But there were no glasses during Shakespeare’s time!” Oikawa protested loudly.

“Neither was gay marriage promoted,” Hajime answered. The two of them passed by Oikawa’s mother in the living room while running for the front door.

“Momwehaveaplayatoneo’clocksopleasecomebye!” Oikawa yelled back at her.

“Bye Auntie!” Hajime added, opening the door and heading out.

“Tooru-chan! You’re still in your pajamas!” Oikawa’s mother called after them.

“Iwa-chan! I’m still in my pajamas!” Oikawa yelled as he was pulled along by Hajime who was running at top speed.

“No time for that either!” Hajime yelled back. “Come on! If the Doctor just grabbed your hand and said ‘Run!’ would you still worry about your pajamas?” Behind him, Oikawa laughed and broke out into a run until he and Hajime were of the same pace.

“I guess not,” he laughed. “It looks like I’m the Companion to your Doctor now, Iwa-chan.” Hajime smiled to himself. Doctor and Companion. He liked the sound of that better than Romeo and Julius.

…

_Whenever Tooru heard the expression ‘My stomach’s got butterflies,’ his first reaction would be to either cringe or make a face._

_Because one, it was not scientifically possible to have butterflies in your stomach, not even if you swallowed caterpillars. Which would be unbelievably gross and stupid._

_Two, it was a stupid expression to explain nervousness because nervousness was more of a mental thing that could manifest itself in the form of small stomachaches._

_Three, the idea of having insects inside you, even though they were butterflies, was just gross._

_Those were the three main reasons why Tooru never liked that particular expression. But recently, he’s come to discover a new reason. Because whatever it was Tooru was feeling in his stomach definitely did not feel like cute, tiny butterflies were fluttering around inside._

_The butterflies felt more like pterodactyls. Angry ones. And for some reason, they liked flying around whenever Iwaizumi was around. Which was practically all the time._

_It didn’t make sense to Tooru at all. He and Iwaizumi had been friends since they were in the first grade. They grew up together in the same neighborhood and went to the same school and did almost everything together. Once they even fell asleep together on the same futon when they were up late watching TV. But this was the first time Tooru felt the ‘butterflies’ whenever he was around Iwaizumi. He even felt awkward drinking from the same bottle as Iwaizumi._

_“Hey, are you sure you don’t want any?” Iwaizumi had asked, offering his water bottle to him during volleyball practice once when Tooru had run out._

_“N-no thank you! I’ll be fine!” he stammered, waving his hands in the air._

_“Are you sure? It’s not good to be dehydrated. You need to drink,” Hajime pressed, shoving the bottle closer to Tooru._

_“I said I’m alright!”_

_“Drink some water dumbass or you’ll get heatstroke or something!” Hajime yelled._

_“Fine,” Tooru gave in and took the bottle from him. When he drank, he tried not to think about the fact that Hajime’s lips had just been on that same area._

…

The play had already opened with the first scene when the two of them finally came. Hajime instantly spotted Nakamura pacing restlessly near the dressing area when they entered through the back door. He looked up once he saw the two of them and hastily waved them over to get their costumes on.

“You made it in just in time,” Nakamura whispered to Hajime. When he looked at Oikawa he frowned slightly. “You wear glasses?”

“Yeah… I didn’t have time to get my contacts…” Oikawa mumbled.

“Well, doesn’t matter now. Get into costume.”

“Right,” the two of them nodded. Hajime got his off the hanger rack and went to one of the curtained-off areas to change. Once he finished changing, Mitsuko sat him down on one of the chairs and began to fix his hair, spreading some gel in it and combing it back slightly.

“Hey, where’s Natsumi?” Hajime whispered right after she was finished with his hair.

“She’s in the nurse’s office now,” Mitsuko answered.

“Hajime, two minutes until your scene,” Shirokawa whispered, passing by them with a clipboard in hand.

“On it,” Hajime nodded and fastened on his belt with the prop sword dangling from it. He made his way to the stairs and entered the stage after the character for Montague finished his lines.

“See, where he comes. So please you, step aside. I’ll know his grievance or be much denied,” Izumi, the actor for Benvolio, recited.

“I would thou wert so happy by thy stay, to hear true shrift. Come, madam, let’s away,” the actor for Montague said before leaving the stage with Lady Montague. Hajime took this as a cue to walk closer to Izumi.

“Good morrow, cousin,” he greeted.

“Is the day so young?” Hajime asked. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Oikawa sitting on one of the chairs, reading his script and turning the pages quickly while Mitsuko fussed with his hair. The lights dimmed at the end of the scene and the sound of clapping from the audience could be heard. Hajime breathed a sigh of relief. ‘One scene down, a hundred more to go,’ he thought.

…

“Hey… good job out there,” Oikawa whispered once Hajime exited the stage. The two of them were alone in the backstage area, waiting for their turn to enter in Act 1, Scene 5.

“Thanks,” Hajime whispered back. “Have you memorized most of your lines?”

“Some, but I don’t think it’ll be enough…” Oikawa trailed off and bit his lip. He was already wearing his costume and the only thing that stood out were his large-framed black glasses that took up most of his face and the lapel microphone clipped on his shirt. His messy bedhead was now tamed slightly, thanks to Mitsuko, and it looked slightly neater than his usual hair.

“Hajime, what if I mess up?” Oikawa asked, looking at Hajime with wide eyes as his lower lip trembled slightly.

“Hey, are you the one being nervous now?” Hajime smirked slightly at him.

“Shut up! I haven’t practiced that much, you know?” Oikawa hissed.

“You’ll be fine. Just improvise a bit and no one will notice a thing.”

“But—“

“Give me your hand,” Hajime ordered, offering his own hand out.

“What? Why?” Oikawa frowned.

“Just give me your hand. I’ll teach you a trick to get over your nervousness,” Hajime pressed. Understanding dawned on Oikawa and he smiled at him when he gave his hand. “You draw the kanji for ‘man’ on your hand…” he said while lightly tracing the character on Oikawa’s palm with his finger.

“And then you swallow it,” he finished, smiling at Oikawa as he let go of his hand. His friend smiled and shook his head at him before ‘swallowing’ the character.

“Better now?” Hajime asked.

“Yeah, much better. I wonder who the genius who taught you that was,” Oikawa grinned. It was almost Hajime’s cue to enter the stage. He squeezed Oikawa’s hand, offering him a reassuring smile.

“If an idiot like Hanamaki can memorize all those lines then you should be able to improvise most of them,” he said.

“Those are two different things, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa rolled his eyes.

“See you onstage, Trashykawa.” Hajime turned on his microphone and entered the stage.

…

_“U-um, Oikawa-san… I just wanted to say that… I like you!” Minori stammered but said the last part in much louder voice. A blush spread across her freckled cheeks and nose making her look even cuter._

_‘It’s another one of those confessions again, huh?’ Tooru thought as he looked at her. He’d been getting quite a lot of them recently from the girls in his class. It was all kind of new to him now that he was more popular than he was back in grade school, thanks to his position as team captain in the volleyball team. But so far, Tooru had denied every single one of the confessions he received. He just didn’t like any of them in that way._

_“Thank you, Minori-chan. You’re very brave to confess your feelings to me like that,” Tooru smiled politely. “But I don’t really like you in that way though. I’m sorry.”_

_“Is that so..?” Minori looked down and smiled. “Well I guess I kind of knew you would reject from the start. But thank you for listening to me.”_

_“But hey, Minori-chan. Can I ask you something?”_

_“Hmm? O-of course, Oikawa-san,” Minori nodded._

_“Um, how did you know that you liked me?” Oikawa asked, rubbing the back of his head._

_“Uh, how?” Minori cocked her head to the left._

_“Yeah like, were there signs or something? Like… butterflies in your stomach?”_

_“Oh yeah, I guess I had those,” Minori said. “Whenever you were around I always felt kind of nervous but also happy in a way. When you smile or say something nice to me it would make my day. And there are also other reasons but it’s… kind of hard to explain…”_

_“Is that so?” Oikawa placed a hand under his chin, deep in thought._

_“If you don’t mind me asking… do you like someone, Oikawa-san?” Minori asked._

_“M-me? N-no! Of course not! I’m still too young and everything,” Oikawa stammered._

_“I see…” Minori smiled. “Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow Oikawa-san. Bye.” Oikawa stood by and watched her leave. ‘It’s kind of hard to explain…huh?’ he thought, feeling slightly disappointed at her vague answer. He was used to everything having an explanation. But now he didn’t even know what his feelings were or why he was having them._

_Especially why he was having them for Iwaizumi._

…

The play sped by much quicker than he initially imagined as they performed scene after scene after scene. It was hard to believe that two months of hard work amounted only to two hours of actual presentation. Despite only having such a short period of time to memorize the rest of his lines, Oikawa did amazingly, as usual. He only needed to improvise a few times. Hajime thought that his favorite part of the whole play was when Hanamaki entered the stage, dressed up in his friar robe and bald cap. The entire audience laughed and Hajime heard the sound of cameras clicking while he was waiting for his cue backstage. Hanamaki flushed a deep red but, to Hajime’s surprise, remained professional about it and continued with his scene.

Finally, the time came for them to do Act 3, Scene 5. The scene that he and Oikawa weren’t able to finish. Once the lights dimmed the two of them made their way to the balcony, positioning themselves so they were face to face. In the dim light, Hajime could just barely make out Oikawa’s facial features. He could tell that he was nervous by the way he chewed his lip and took sidelong glances at the audience. Hajime held his chin and turned his head to make Oikawa face him.

‘Look at me,’ he thought, remembering what Oikawa had told him before during rehearsals when he felt nervous. ‘Look at me. Don’t look at the audience. Look at me.’ The spotlight landed on the two of them and Hajime saw confidence flash through Oikawa’s eyes.

“Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day. It was the nightingale, and not the lark, that pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear. Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate tree. Believe me, love, it was the nightingale,” Oikawa recited in a clear, loud voice that echoed through the gym.

“It was the lark, the herald of the morn, no nightingale,” Hajime said back. “Look, love, what envious streaks do lace the severing clouds in yonder east. Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. I must be gone and live, or stay and die.”

“Yon light is not daylight, I know it,” Oikawa pleaded, turning his head away from Hajime. “It is some meteor that the sun exhales to be to thee this night a torchbearer, and light thee on thy way to Mantua. Therefore stay yet. Thou need’st not to be gone.” His hands reached forward and gripped Hajime’s.

“Let me be ta’en. Let me be put to death. I am content, so thou wilt have it so,” Hajime said, taking a step closer to Oikawa. Once he heard himself say those lines he suddenly thought of his parents who were currently in the audience, watching everything that was happening. They came to watch because they thought Natsumi would be the one playing Juliet. ‘This must be quite a surprise,’ he wondered as he said the rest of his lines.

“It is, it is. Hie hence! Be gone, away! It is the lark that sings so out of tune, straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps,” Oikawa cried, and turned away from Hajime, gripping the railing of the balcony. “Some say the lark makes sweet division. This doth not so, for she divideth us. Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes. Oh, now I would they had changed voices too, since arm from arm that voice doth us affray, hunting thee hence with hunt’s-up to the day. O, now be gone. More light and light it grows.”

“More light and light, more dark and dark our woes!” Hajime added. Akane entered the stage from the right as the Nurse. Her face betrayed signs of worry when she looked at Oikawa. No doubt because on the last time they did the scene, Oikawa didn’t follow his cue and stopped right after Akane came in. But now, based on the way Oikawa acted onstage, Hajime didn’t doubt for a second that they would finish not only this scene, but the whole play as well.

“Madam,” Akane said.

“Nurse?” Oikawa asked, looking up at her.

“Your lady mother is coming to your chamber. The day is broke. Be wary, look about,” Akane finished and left the stage. Oikawa looked at Hajime.

“Then, window, let day in and let life out,” he said softly.

“Farewell, farewell. I shall descend.” Hajime stepped down the stairs in the back of the balcony.

“Art thou gone so, love, lord? Ay, husband, friend, I must hear from thee every day in the hour, for in a minute there are many days. Oh, by this count I shall be much in years ere I again behold my Romeo,” Oikawa said gazing down at Hajime who was standing by the balcony.

“Farewell! I will omit no opportunity that may convey my greetings, love, to thee…”

“Oh, think’st thou we shall ever meet again?” Hajime’s gaze flickered over to the audience again, not out of nervousness but out of curiosity. His parents weren’t hard to find because they were seated right at the very front row. He could see his mother with a hand covering her mouth and his father with a look of pure disapproval on his face. For a second, Hajime felt a chill run down his spine. But then, Oikawa reached a hand out to him from the above the balcony and smiling, Hajime stretched out his own hand to grasp it.

“I doubt it not, and all these woes shall serve for sweet discourses in our time to come,” he said. When he held Oikawa’s hand, the electrical charges were no longer there, only warmth and reassurance. Hajime didn’t care that he was in full view of his parents. He wanted them to see everything that was happening onstage and know that there was no other explanation for it.

Hajime had fallen in love with his best friend.

…

_“Hey, Oikawa.”_

_“Yes Iwa-chan?”_

_“Why the hell are you sitting so far away?” Iwaizumi asked. Tooru looked up from his math homework and saw Iwaizumi frowning at him. The two of them were doing their homework on the treehouse with Tooru seated at least three feet away from his friend._

_“I just like sitting here. I’ve always liked sitting here,” Oikawa shrugged._

_“Liar. You never sit there,” Iwaizumi countered._

_“So? I just want to sit here now. Is that wrong?”_

_“But I need you to help me with my homework,” Iwaizumi said, crawling over to sit next to Tooru. His skin bristled slightly at the feeling of Iwaizumi’s arm against his as they sat together._

_“F-fine. What do you need help in?” Tooru asked, hoping that math would get him to think of something else._

_“Is there a formula for this problem?” Hajime asked, pointing at the sheet of paper with the tip of his pencil._

_“No, you’re just supposed to use algebra. Replace it with x and then solve,” Tooru explained, inching away slowly from his friend._

_“Hey, you’re doing it again,” Hajime said without looking up from his work._

_“Doing what again?”_

_“Trying to get away from me when I’m next to you,” Hajime looked up at him. “Geez, what’s wrong with you?”_

_“Nothing. I just need to go to the bathroom,” Tooru lied and started crawling towards the gap in the floor. As he was making his way down, his foot missed one of the footholds in the tree. “Ah!” he yelled as his hands tried to make a grab for something. Suddenly, Hajime’s arm shot forward and grasped onto Tooru’s._

_“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” Hajime yelled down at him, his face looming through the gap in the treehouse floor. Panic was written all over his face and he was still holding on to Tooru’s arm despite the fact that he must be too heavy for him._

_“Iwa-chan…” Tooru mumbled, looking up at Iwaizumi as if in a daze._

_“Hey? Are you hurt? Did you hit your head or something?” Hajime demanded._

_‘He’s always there for me…’ Tooru thought. He felt his eyes widening in realization as he looked up at his friend. He remembered what Minori said to him a few days ago just after she confessed. The stomach butterflies. The nervousness. And the times when Tooru couldn’t help but stare at Hajime, grinning widely at him whenever they got a spike over the net. ‘Now I understand…’ Hajime’s hand was strong and warm and reassuring at the same time. It was always there for Tooru whenever he needed help being pulled up. Right now, when he looked at Iwaizumi, Tooru knew that this was something much bigger than what Minori felt for him. That was his explanation. It had to be. He was sure of it now._

_Tooru had fallen in love with his best friend._


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Love isn’t natural, isn’t it?” Hajime cried. “It just happens and before you know it it’s there and you don’t know what else to do but follow it without even understanding what it is exactly.” Hajime looked down at his hand, still tingling with warmth from when Oikawa held his hand. He smiled to himself. “But the only thing you know about love is that it’s right…” he added softly. His parents watched him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUYS I FINISHED IT GUYS OMG LDGHGSDJGHLkdjhla
> 
> Sorry for the long wait but here it is! It's the longest chapter I've written and it took me two days and everything but here it is! Thank you all so much for sticking to me and this fic and for all the hits, comments, and kudos you've given it. I just can't believe how much it has and it's all thanks to you guys. I literally scrolled through all your comments in this fic and it made me so happy to write this so I hope you enjoy the last but not LAST chapter since there's going to be another epilogue ;)
> 
> Also you can follow me on Tumblr [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/wayward-stranger) (omg i know how to tag!!). And don't be afraid to follow me or send a message!

The applause was deafening. The sounds of people clapping, cheering, whistling, and calling for encores was probably just as loud as the sound of sports fans cheering during the Giants game that Hajime had watched. All the same, he joined in with the clapping as well. ‘It’s over, it’s finally over,’ he thought, sighing with relief. ‘Nakamura must be flipping out from all the applause too.’

“Someone looks happy,” Oikawa snickered, leaning against the wall next to Hajime in the backstage.

“Definitely,” he nodded.

“I wonder if Mitsuko-chan will let us keep the costumes,” Oikawa said as he picked at one of the gold buttons on his shirt. “It really suits me, doesn’t it? Maybe I could wear it again…”

“Well, Hanamaki’s probably going to burn his right after this thing is done,” Hajime laughed.

“Thank you very much for coming to watch our interpretation of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ they heard Nakamura say with a microphone onstage. Hajime took a peek at their director from behind the curtains in the backstage. “Now, may I present to you, the props and set designers: Akihito Kaze, Akari Kujou, Dante Izaya…” One by one, he called out the names of their classmates as they all filed in on the stage. Matsukawa was there too, looking quite bored as he stood with his fellow props and set designers. Next came the costume designers and make-up artists. Then the lights and sounds technicians, and finally, the cast. When Hanamaki’s name was called, he made his way to the center of the stage but this time, not wearing his bald cap. As soon as he bowed, the audience erupted into even louder cheers.

“It seems someone’s a crowd favorite,” Oikawa chuckled, standing next to Hajime as they peeked out of the curtain. His hair brushed the side of Hajime’s cheek.

“Maybe he’ll catch the attention of a few girls, just like he wanted,” Hajime added.

“Hmm… I don’t think he cares that much about it now,” Oikawa hummed.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Hajime frowned, looking at his friend.

“You’ll see, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa answered, flashing an enigmatic smile at his friend. “Hopefully soon.”

“God, not again Shittykawa,” Hajime rolled his eyes. Oikawa ignored him.

“We’re up next! Got to get onstage, Iwa-chan!” he smiled and planted his hands on Hajime’s back to push him towards the stage.

“Hey Oi—“

“And finally, Oikawa Tooru as Julius Capulet and Iwaizumi Hajime as Romeo Montague,” Nakamura called out just as the two of them got onstage. They walked to the center of the stage and bowed in front of the audience as they cheered and clapped. Oikawa smiled and waved earning a few squeals and cries of ‘Oikawa-san!’ from their fellow girl schoolmates in the audience. Hajime rolled his eyes but smiled fondly at his friend when he saw how happy he was. ‘This must be why you wanted to be in the play, Oikawa…’

“Lastly, the script editor and production assistant, Shirokawa Ai—“

“And the director of the play, Nakamura Daiki,” Shirokawa finished before the two of them bowed in front of the audience.

“Thank you very much for coming!” Nakamura bowed, the rest of them followed his lead and bowed in unison. Hajime looked at the audience again, towards the direction where his parents were seated. They were still seated right now, not standing up or clapping or cheering like the rest of the audience was now. His father’s eyes found his and Hajime swallowed, feeling a pit of dread in the bottom of his stomach. He was going to have to confront his father and mother right after the play.

“Hey Iwa-chan, are you okay?” Oikawa whispered, touching his land lightly.

“I uh… yeah. I’m fine,” Hajime nodded. He could feel Oikawa’s gaze on him and knew that he knew there was something bothering him. A few seconds later, he felt Oikawa’s fingers wrap around his own.

“Later, okay? Tell me later,” he told him. Hajime looked down at their hands and wrapped his own tightly around Oikawa’s.

“Yeah, I will,” he smiled. ‘It’s going to be okay,’ he told himself. Because he had something and someone to fight for.

…

They were waiting right outside the gymnasium. Hajime went outside to meet them right after he changed out of his costume. His father had his arms crossed and his gaze was stony when Hajime met it. His mother was clutching one of his arms with a strange expression on her face. It looked like a mixture of sadness, fear, and disbelief. Hajime stood before the two of them.

“Dad, Mom,” he said. “I’m glad you could make it to the play.”

“I thought Natsumi-chan was supposed to play Juliet,” his mother said softly.

“She… got into an accident,” Hajime rubbed the back of his head. “So I had to ask Oikawa to replace her.”

“An accident?” his mother’s eyes widened and she covered her mouth in shock. “Is—“

“That was some pretty good acting, son,” his father interrupted her. “Very convincing.”

“You know just as well as I do that it wasn’t just an act,” Hajime said, keeping his gaze trained on his father’s.

“For fuck’s sake Hajime, don’t you _dare_ joke about this,” his father seethed.

“I’m not joking,” Hajime shook his head. “I am completely serious about this.”

“You mean you’re really...” His father closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Hajime had seen that look on his face quite often whenever he was on the phone with an unreasonable client. The fact that it was now directed toward him stung quite a bit, but Hajime kept his stance.

“M-maybe it’s just a phase, Hajime,” his mother stammered, the smile on her face shaking slightly. “You know, you’re still growing up and it’s all these confusing feelings inside you that make you want to uh… experiment, or something.”

‘Experiment?’ The word echoed in Hajime’s mind. Now that _really_ stung. To have the love he felt for Oikawa be written off as just an ‘experiment.’ It was more than that. So much more. And Hajime wanted his parents to understand that.

“Mom, it’s not an experiment,” he said gently, looking his mother in the eye. “And it’s not a phase either, I know it.”

“What about Natsumi?” she asked. “What about your feelings for her?” That made Hajime wince slightly. Natsumi, he almost forgot about her. He definitely didn’t want to hurt her feelings and she was a great person. She was smart, funny, understanding, kind. He remembered the day he brought her over to his house where she cooked dinner with his mother. Hajime may have feelings for her, but they were on an entirely different spectrum from the feelings he felt for Oikawa.

“I’m going to break up with her,” Hajime said determinedly. “And I’m sure she’ll understand. We actually never really did much while we were dating…”

“Hajime, do you even here yourself right now?” his father said furiously.

“Dear—“

“You’re willing to give up on Natsumi, your girlfriend, for that Oikawa?!”

“He isn’t ‘that Oikawa’!” Hajime snapped. “He’s been my best friend fried for years. You know him dad. Why won’t you let this happen? What’s so wrong about it?”

“He’s a _guy_ Hajime, for crying out loud!” his father yelled. “It’s- it’s not natural.”

“Love isn’t natural, isn’t it?” Hajime cried. “It just happens and before you know it it’s _there_ and you don’t know what else to do but follow it without even understanding what it is exactly.” Hajime looked down at his hand, still tingling with warmth from when Oikawa held his hand. He smiled to himself. “But the only thing you know about love is that it’s _right_ …” he added softly. His parents watched him.

“You don’t know that,” his father said stonily.

“Yes I do,” Hajime looked up at him. “I know it. And you know it too. You’ve seen it earlier when we were onstage, didn’t you?”

“It really is true, isn’t it?” his mother said softly, looking at Hajime with sadness in her eyes.

“It is,” Hajime nodded. “I love Oikawa, and nothing’s going to change that.”

“I don’t think we’ll be able to change his mind, dear,” his mother said, looking up at her husband. Hajime’s father said nothing and refused to look at his son.

“And I don’t think I’ll be able to make you two understand either,” Hajime said sadly.

“I can’t believe it. I just can’t fucking believe it,” his father shook his head.

“Are you really not going to accept it?” Hajime asked pleadingly.

“Look, I understand what you’re saying about love and all that. I know what it’s like to love someone.” His hand reached down to grip his wife’s hand tightly. “I just wish that it wasn’t him, that it wasn’t a guy.”

“Then, I don’t think I can help you with that,” Hajime said before turning around and walking away.

…

Matsukawa was left alone with a few other people to clean up the stage and the rest of the props. He was carrying three of the trees he painted under his arm and trying to dislodge a fourth one from its place near the balcony. After removing it, he held it in front of him for a little while. He remembered this tree pretty well. It had a splotch of red paint at the base of its trunk which couldn’t be completely covered up by the brown paint Matsukawa layered over it. It was Hanamaki’s doing. He tried to help him by painting the branches on top but accidentally knocked over a can of red paint underneath. It splattered a bit on Matsukawa and he retaliated by splattering green paint on his friend.

“Hey! I said it was an accident! What the hell did you do that for?” Hanamaki yelled at him.

“Well, I must say green suits you,” Matsukawa smirked.

“Oh yeah?” Hanamaki grinned back, picking up a can of yellow paint. “Well, yellow suits you even better!” Matsukawa raised an arm to cover his face but flecks of yellow paint still made it to his forehead and hairline.

“Why, Hanamaki, you’re looking a bit _blue!_ ”

“ _Orange_ you glad you’re more colorful now?!”

“Oh no! Are you okay? You’re as _white_ as a ghost!”

“ _Red_ -y or not, here I come!” Hanamaki yelled, splashing Matsukawa with a can of red paint. It landed over his torso and a bit on his hands. “You look like you were murdered!” Hanamaki laughed and dropped the can.

“H-hanamaki… I trusted you…” Matsukawa looked at him and pretended to cough up blood. “You were my friend… why…?”

“Maybe next time, you should be more careful,” Hanamaki said coldly in a pretend-action-hero-villain voice.

“You’ll… never… get away… with this,” Matsukawa said, panting in between words.

“Oh, it seems I have.” Hanamaki smirked and pointed a finger gun at his head. “Bang!” he yelled and Matsukawa crumpled to the ground. He kept his eyes closed and didn’t move until he felt Hanamaki sit down next to him on the ground.

“You know, Oikawa would probably the villain in this movie,” he mused.

“And he’d have Iwaizumi as his bodyguard to do his dirty work too,” Matsukawa added. “And there will be extreme sexual tension between the two of them. Like, half of the movie would be shots of Oikawa gazing at Iwaizumi.” Hanamaki threw back his head and laughed. Matsukawa smiled at him. He liked Hanamaki’s laugh. He never really giggled or chuckled or snickered. When he found something funny he, straight-up _laughed,_ with his head thrown back and his voice ringing in the air.

“So if they’re the supervillains then we’re the heroes then,” Hanamaki said. “I’m definitely not the damsel in distress.”

“Mmmm… no not really,” Matsukawa shook his head. “You’re more like the tech-savvy genius who always works in the shadows and can’t get a girlfriend.”

“Geez, give me a break,” Hanamaki groaned. “I’m a friar in the play and now I’m the weird hacker in the hypothetical action movie. Can’t I be the dashing hero who saves the day?”

“Fine, just this once,” Matsukawa smiled. “You’re the dashing hero.”

“What does that make you then?” Hanamaki asked, leaning over Matsukawa.

“Me?” he swallowed. Hanamaki’s face was inches above his own and that already felt too close to him. There was a splatter of orange paint near his chin that Matsukawa felt the urge to wipe off.

“I’ll be… the hero’s friend,” he said after a period of silence. “The smart, mature friend that keeps the dashing hero in line. You know, like K from Men in Black.”

“Just a friend?” Hanamaki asked. Matsukawa didn’t know if he was just imagining it but it seemed as if Hanamaki’s face inched a little closer. His eyes were wide and Matsukawa could see the color of his irises. His gaze flickered to his lips for a second before he became aware of what he was doing.

“Yeah, a friend.” Matsukawa cleared his throat and sat up. “If not, the movie’s going to be pretty boring, isn’t it?” he flicked Hanamaki on the forehead.

“I guess…” he murmured.

“Hey, we were supposed to be painting trees,” Matsukawa chuckled, standing up and dusting himself off. “We’ve got to clean up now.”

“Yeah,” Hanamaki nodded.

He had definitely been acting weird that way and Matsukawa didn’t deny the fact that he acted weird as well. He tried to brush it off his mind but eventually found himself thinking about it way too often. About how close he and Hanamaki’s faces were, the color of his eyes as they bore into his skull, the sight of his lips just _there_ within perfect reach, the sound of his voice when he said the words ‘Just a friend.’

God, it drove him crazy.

But what drove him insane was the fact that Hanamaki had been acting strangely throughout the past week. He didn’t avoid Matsukawa because of what happened, thank god for that, and he didn’t bring it up either. But there were times when he felt like a bundle of nerves when the two of them were alone together. Times when Matsukawa would catch his gaze only to have it turn quickly away to something else. And there were times when Matsukawa would imagine what would have happened if they continued where he stopped on that day. If he decided to just move his face closer and closer to Hanamaki’s instead of changing the subject. He did that imagining most of the time.

‘No, don’t think about that,’ he shook his head as if to clear his thoughts before tucking the tree under his arm and heading to get the last one on the other side of the balcony. Just as he finished pulling it off and tucking it under his arm, he heard a voice behind him.

“Hey, you’re still here.” Matsukawa didn’t need to turn around to know that it was Hanamaki standing behind him.

“Someone needs to clean up the trees,” he said, turning around. Hanamaki had changed out of his friar robe and bald cap.

“Nakamura said we’re having an after-party in the classroom,” he said. “Are you finished or..?”

“Yeah, yeah I am,” Matsukawa nodded. “Wanna go together?”

“Sure, need any help with that?” he asked, offering his arms out.

“Fine, but I can only trust you with one tree,” Matsukawa grinned, handing him the smallest tree in the bunch.

“Very funny,” Hanamaki rolled his eyes but smiled at him nonetheless. The two of them made their way downstairs. “Glad Oikawa could make it,” Hanamaki said as they walked out of the gym. “Would have been quite a disaster if he didn’t.”

“That’s an understatement. Nakamura would have pulled his hair out.”

“Then maybe he could be the one to play Friar Lawrence.”

“I would definitely pay to see that,” Matsukawa grinned.

“But the two of them did really great,” Hanamaki said. “Iwaizumi and Oikawa. Who knew that the volleyball team’s power duo could do just as well onstage?”

“They sure harnessed the sexual tension between them,” Matsukawa added. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the two of them started dating next week.”

“Hey, how do you feel about… those things?” Hanamaki asked slowly, looking down at the ground as he walked.

“You mean Oikawa and Iwaizumi dating?”

“No, not that,” Hanamaki shook his head. “Well, kind of that I guess. I mean about two guys dating.”

“It’s alright I guess,” Matsukawa shrugged. “If they like each other then why not? They’re not hurting anyone.”

“Is that so?” Hanamaki looked up. “You don’t think it’s weird or anything?”

“No,” Matsukawa shook his head. “Not to me.”

“Well, about that bet then,” Hanamaki cleared his throat. “The one where I said that you, Iwa, and Oikawa would have to treat me on a date in some high-class restaurant if I get a girlfriend.”

“And if you didn’t you’d have to treat all three of us to barbecue,” Matsukawa added.

“Yeah, that. Is it okay if I… call it off?”

“Hmm… I don’t know…” Matsukawa mused. “I really don’t like the idea of passing on a chance to get free barbecue.”

“Well it’s not valid anymore since I don’t like girls,” Hanamaki blurted out. “Not in _that_ way at least…”

“Wait, so you mean you’re—“

“Gay, yeah. I think I am,” Hanamaki looked away. “I’m not entirely sure yet. Maybe I’m bi or something..?”

“Hold on, have you told anyone about this?” Matsukawa asked. “Your mom? Your dad? Anyone?”

“No, just you,” Hanamaki mumbled. “You’re my best friend after all…” Matsukawa stopped walking.

“Just your best friend?” he asked, looking directly at Hanamaki.

“I-I well… It’s…” his friend stammered, his eyes widening. Finally, he sucked in a deep breath and closed his eyes.

“Look, I like you okay?!” he yelled. Now that took Matsukawa by surprise. It felt like processing those words in his head took years. In the end, all he could think about was ‘Oh, so that explains it.’

“Please say something…” Hanamaki said in a small voice when Matsukawa didn’t answer. “This is way more embarrassing than going onstage wearing a bald cap…”

“You know, we might need to bring up that issue with the bet to Iwaizumi and Oikawa,” Matsukawa answered. Hanamaki looked up at him. “Because I would really like going to that fancy restaurant with you.”

…

The class was full of people when Hajime opened the door. Streamers were hung over the walls and colorful confetti was scattered over the floor. No one seemed to notice him enter either, not with Nakamura in the center leading the toast. Hajime scanned the crowd for Oikawa and instead found Natsumi, leaning against the wall near the back. Her leg was wrapped up in a bandage and a crutch leaned against the wall beside her. Her eyes looked up to meet his as if sensing he was staring at her. She smiled and raised her hand up in a wave.

“Hey, aren’t you supposed to be in the nurse’s office?” he asked, leaning against the wall beside her.

“I got bored,” Natsumi shrugged. “And I wanted to see the celebration too.”

“Does it still hurt?”

“A little bit,” she said, moving her bandaged leg a bit. “The cuts weren’t so bad but I don’t think I’ll be able to walk around much for a while.”

“Sorry you couldn’t be in the play,” Hajime said, giving her a sad smile. “You worked really hard for it and everything.”

“I know, it kinda sucks,” she sighed. “But I’m glad Ai’s okay. And besides, I was rooting for you and Oikawa to play Romeo and Juliet anyway. I heard you did great.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Hajime grinned and rubbed the back of his head. He scanned the room to see if Oikawa was there but he didn’t seem to be around. ‘Probably checking out the Occult Club’s pictures of alien sightings. Or he was hauled off to another one of those ‘Best-looking Guy’ pageants just like what happened last year. Suddenly, it occurred to him that this was their last Cultural Festival in school. Next year he would be in college and Oikawa will…

Hajime took out his phone and sent him a message asking where he was. A reply came in less than a minute after:

_‘I’m showing my Mom around! We’re in this really cool café that the Astronomy Club made! Wanna meet up later?’_

‘I knew it,’ Hajime thought, smiling as he sent back a reply.

_‘Sure, I’ll be by the lockers.’_

_‘See you there, Iwa-chan~~!’_

‘But before that, there’s something I need to take care of,’ Hajime sighed and turned to look at Natsumi. She was biting her lip and twirling a piece of hair in her fingers. ‘She’s nervous. Why is she nervous?’ he wondered with a small frown on his face. Seeing her like this now made Hajime want to hesitate in breaking the news to her. But it also seemed cruel to tell her much later too.

“Hey Natsumi—“

“I think we should break up,” she interrupted him. Hajime was left stunned and unable to answer. ‘Did she somehow… read my mind?’ he thought. Natsumi pursed her lips and looked at him.

“I think we should break up,” she said again, this time in a much softer voice. “I’m sorry…”

“No, no, it’s alright,” Hajime shook his head. “But, can I know why?” he asked. Even though he was quite elated at the fact that he didn’t have to be the one to ask her, he was still curious as to why she wanted to break up with him.

“You know, if you weren’t you I don’t think I’d tell you the reason,” she said, the corner of her lip turning up in a smile. “But I think it’s okay to tell you. Hajime, I’m…” Natsumi paused and sucked in her breath while Hajime waited.

“I’m as straight as a rainbow,” she blurted out, saying it so fast that Hajime almost didn’t understand.

“So you’re…”

“Yeah, I’m gay…” she closed her eyes and nodded. Hajime blinked twice and suddenly it all made sense. It was the reason why he saw Shirokawa with Natsumi in the volleyball game and why Shirokawa left quickly when she saw Hajime. ‘Even the thing that happened earlier…’ Hajime added, remembering the panic in Natsumi’s voice when she asked Shirokawa if she was okay even if she was the one who was actually hurt. Only one thing didn’t make sense though…

“So, why did you ask to date me?” Hajime asked.

“I’m sorry Iwaizumi-san,” Natsumi bit her lip. “But I guess you could say that I was using you… My parents and Ai’s parents, they don’t like what’s happening between us so I thought that—“

“If you dated a guy and introduced him to your parents, they’d get off your case,” Hajime finished, nodding his head. “Well, if you put it that way, I guess I was also using you,” he grinned. Natsumi smiled back.

“I knew it. I just knew it,” she shook her head.

“Wait, since when?!” Hajime spluttered.

“Since I met the two of you, of course. I have been to all your games,” Natsumi winked. “As soon as I saw you on the court I just closed my eyes and said ‘The gay is strong in this one.’ Ai almost coughed up her soda when she heard that.”

“Wow, even before I did, huh?” Hajime shook his head and smiled.

“But I am still sorry…” Natsumi said softly. “I think I upset Oikawa…”

“It’s alright, I took care of it already.”

“So, your parents are homophobic too. I thought as much, judging from your father and everything.”

“Yeah,” Hajime nodded. “I uh… told them earlier. They didn’t take it very well…” Natsumi reached up and squeezed Hajime’s hand with her own.

“I guess we’re in the same boat then…” she said sadly.

“When did you decide to uh, ‘break-up’ with me then?” Hajime asked her. The corner of Natsumi’s mouth turned up in a smile as she stared ahead.

“When I came over to your house,” she answered. “And when I cooked sukiyaki beside your mom while you washed the dishes before your dad came in. It was all so… _nice_ and your parents just treated me like family. And even though I was with you and your family, I couldn’t help but think about how much I wanted to have that with Ai…” Natsumi’s voice began to crack and tears came into her eyes which she hastily wiped away with the back of her hand. Hajime put an arm around her and rubbed her shoulder gently.

“It’s okay…” he murmured. “It’s not fair, isn’t it?”

“No, it sucks,” Natsumi sniffed. “Is it too much for them to accept me? To accept us? It’s all I’ve ever wanted. To have Ai’s parents smile at me and treat me like a second daughter instead of trying to find excuses for me to leave. To have my own parents understand that this isn’t just a phase…”

“Then fight for it, Natsumi,” Hajime said, looking down at her. “If it’s something that you and Shirokawa want, then you have every right to fight for it. And if they still don’t accept you then why should it destroy what you have worked for? There may be a chance that your parents won’t ever understand but why should it matter when you’ve got your whole world with you?”

“Wow Iwaizumi, you should have been Seijoh’s team captain. That was a really great pep talk,” Natsumi laughed, rubbing the last of her tears out of her eyes. “But you’re right… I know I should fight for this and I will.”

“That’s the spirit,” Hajime grinned.

“You know, if I wasn’t gay I’d probably date you for real,” Natsumi smiled.

“Any chance of you being bisexual then?” Hajime joked despite the present blush on his face from what Natsumi said.

“Nope,” she laughed. Suddenly, the door to the classroom beside them opened and Shirokawa burst in with a flurry of red hair. Natsumi looked up at her and waved.

“Ai-chan! Are you joining the party?” she grinned. Shirokawa turned around.

“Idiot! There you are! Why weren’t you in the clinic?!” she demanded, stomping towards the two of them. Hajime swallowed. ‘Shirokawa’s really scary up close…’ he thought. But Natsumi only smiled beside him.

“I wanted to join the party…” she mock-pouted. “Just a few more minutes..?”

“Definitely not,” Shirokawa shook her head. “Your leg needs to heal. The nurse was supposed to put ice on it until you left.”

“In the words of Benvolio, ‘Tis but a scratch,’” Natsumi pointed out. Hajime bit back a laugh.

“That’s Mercutio, idiot,” Shirokawa rolled her eyes. “Come on, I’ll take you back to the clinic. You can visit your girlfriend later, Iwaizumi-san.”

“Actually, we broke up,” Natsumi said cheerily, taking her crutch and leaning against Shirokawa’s shoulder for extra support.

“Wait, really?” Shirokawa asked, looking up at Hajime in surprise.

“Well, there wasn’t much going on between us anyway. I think we should just stay friends,” Hajime smiled. “Take care of her for now, Shirokawa-san.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Shirokawa flushed and began walking towards the door with Natsumi beside her.

“Bye bye, Romeo-san,” she waved before leaving. Hajime looked down at his phone to check the time. ‘Oikawa should be there already,’ he thought, placing the phone in his pocket. ‘Good thing I’ve got that taken care of already.’

…

“Seriously, your leg will only get worse from climbing all these steps,” Ai growled as the two of them made their way down the second floor.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry Ai,” Kaori smiled, not sounding sorry at all. Besides the pain of her aching leg, she didn’t mind this at all with her arm wrapped around her shorter friend. Ai was shorter than her by a few inches and her red curls tickled Kaori’s chin as she leaned against her when they went down. The freckles sprinkled across her nose and cheeks and the dark green of her eyes was in full view. Kaori smiled to herself. No matter how many times she told Ai how pretty she looked, she always rolled her eyes and denied it. Of course, that didn’t stop her from repeating it time and time again.

“Hey, so you broke up with Iwaizumi huh…” Ai said after a few minutes of silence between them.

“Yeah. He took it pretty well actually,” Kaori said. “I hope Oikawa-san isn’t mad at me.”

“Does he know… about us?” Ai asked slowly, keeping her gaze trained on the floor even as her cheeks heated up.

“Don’t worry. You can trust him,” Kaori said reassuringly. “He’s actually in the same boat as us.”

“You mean his parents—“

“Are homophobic too. Yup,” Kaori nodded, finishing Ai’s sentence.

“So I guess being straight didn’t work out for you,” she said, biting her lip.

“Believe me, I’ve tried,” Kaori chuckled.

“I’m sorry…” Ai said in a small voice. “It… it doesn’t work out for me either after all. I’m sorry for leaving you like that. I wouldn’t have done it if I knew I’d miss you like crazy and—“

“It’s not your fault, Ai…” Kaori stopped walking and leaned her crutch against the wall beside them so she could wrap Ai in her arms. The hallway was empty, thankfully. Neither of them felt quite comfortable with everyone in school knowing about the two of them.

“We’ll fight for this, you and I. We’ll fight for what we have and we won’t lose as long as we’re together,” Kaori whispered, pressing her forehead against Ai’s.

“We will. I’m not afraid anymore,” Ai nodded. “We’re strong when we’re together and I’m not going to leave you again. I promise. Not ever.” Kaori smiled and kissed her lightly on the lips.

“Not ever.”

…

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa waved when he saw Hajime walking over. His mother was with him, reading a brochure she got somewhere.

“Hajime-chan,” she said, looking up and smiling.

“Hey Auntie, glad you could make it for the show,” Hajime greeted.

“I’m glad I did too,” his mother said. “You two were amazing. Did anyone by chance get it on video?”

“I’ll ask Nakamura-san,” Oikawa offered.

“Thank you, I’m sure your father would love to see that. Well, I’m going to go ahead. Thanks for showing me around Tooru-chan.”

“See you Mom,” Oikawa smiled and kissed her on the cheek.

“See you too Auntie,” Hajime waved.

“Bye Hajime-chan,” she waved back before leaving until it was only Oikawa and Hajime left. Oikawa had returned to wearing his pajama Tardis t-shirt but his pants were the ones he used for his costume.

“So, where did you guys go? Besides the Astronomy Club’s café,” Hajime asked.

“Hmmm… we went to the Street Food stand set up by the Culinary Club since Mom wanted to try the Takoyaki and then we watched the magic show done by class 2-C and then we passed by the Photography Club’s room since they wanted pictures of me,” he said, ticking them off on his fingers one by one. “Have you checked any of the stalls out, Iwa-chan?”

“No, I’ll just look around tomorrow,” he shrugged.

“I’ll come with you then,” Oikawa grinned. “I think the Occult Club’s setting up something cool tomorrow.”

“Let me guess, a compilation of UFO sightings?” Hajime rolled his eyes, leaning against the lockers beside Oikawa.

“Yup! And they have merchandise too!” Oikawa nodded. “Look at these though, I got it from the Astronomy Club’s café.” He reached into a paper bag he was holding and pulled out a small plastic packet filled with what appeared to be even more glow-in-the-dark stars.

“You got even more of them?” Hajime took the bag and took a closer look.

“Yup. They even have planets and moons too. See, there’s Saturn right there.” Oikawa leaned in close to him and pointed at a Saturn-shaped one.

“I see…”

“And guess what else I got?” Oikawa beamed at him and reached into the paper bag to pull out a light blue box. He opened it to show Hajime.

“S’mores?” he said, feeling the corners of his mouth turning up.

“Yup, I got it from the Culinary Club’s stand.” Oikawa picked one up and took a bite.

“Is it good?” Hajime asked.

“You bet. It’s really sweet and everything. Want one?” Oikawa offered the bitten s’more to him. Hajime looked at it for a few seconds and then back at Oikawa. He remembered the time when he gave his drink to Oikawa after he drank from it. He felt awkward about drinking from the same place he did. Hajime found his gaze focused on Oikawa’s lips that were so near and so close. Suddenly the distance between the two of them, which was only actually a few inches, felt way too far.

“Iwa-chan…” Oikawa said softly. Hajime didn’t say anything and just watched his lips move to form his name. And without any other warning, he moved in to close the distance between them.

The first thing he sensed was how sweet Oikawa’s lips tasted. ‘Well duh, he just ate a s’more,’ he told himself. But it felt nice to be able to taste his favorite childhood snack when he kissed his childhood friend for the first time. Oikawa’s lips stiffened at first and then began to move with his own. They felt so warm and soft and so light that Hajime was scared that this was only a dream. But when he reached up a hand to cup Oikawa’s cheek, he knew that it was real.

When they pulled apart, Oikawa looked so bewildered and flustered with his glasses hanging on the tip of his nose and his cheeks burning bright red that Hajime felt the urge to kiss him again.

“I-Iwa-chan… Y-you…” he stammered, his face growing redder with every second. Despite his shock, he was still holding on to the half-bitten s’more. Hajime plucked it from his hands and took a bite.

“You’re right, it does taste good,” he said, chewing the s’more in his mouth.

“Iwa-chan! How can you just calmly eat that as if nothing just happened between us?!” Oikawa yelled. “And besides… aren’t you with Natsumi-san…” he added in a softer voice.

“I broke up with her,” Hajime said. “Nothing really happened between us.”

“But, she’s Natsumi Kaori. She’s amazing and nice and sweet and—“

“And she’s not you,” Hajime said, looking Oikawa in the eye. “I told you earlier, didn’t I? You’re the one I want. Not Natsumi.”

“But I’m just, I’m just…”

“You’re annoying,” Hajime finished, smiling at him. “And bratty and an unbelievable pain in the ass. I swear to God, I don’t even know how you manage to involve me in all the stupid things that you do. You’re unbelievably childish. You still put glow-in-the-dark stars in your bedroom, even after all this time. You haven’t grown out of your Doctor Who phase and seeing you still wearing that Tardis shirt is driving me crazy because of how adorable it is. You drive me crazy in both good ways and bad and I’ve asked myself a million times today why it’s you of all people but it is. And I can’t explain it clearly in words but I just _know_ it.” He paused for a while and tucked a loose strand of hair behind Oikawa’s ear, letting his hand linger on his face for just a moment before finally saying it.

“I love you Tooru.” Oikawa still didn’t say anything but Hajime watched as tears began to fill up his eyes and run down his cheeks in narrow trails. He let out a small sob and buried his face in Hajime’s shoulder, wrapping his arms around him.

“God, you have no idea how long I’ve wanted to hear that, Hajime…” he whispered. Hajime wrapped his arms around him to pull him closer and began running his fingers through Oikawa’s hair.

“You have no idea how long it took for me to realize that I had to say those words,” he said back.

“When you said yes to Natsumi on that day I-I thought that—“

“Well, it turns out that she’s gay too,” Hajime chuckled slightly. “And… I said yes to dating her because I thought that if I did, my parents would stop thinking that I am gay.”

“Wait,” Oikawa pulled away quickly to look at him. “You mean they’re…”

“Yeah,” Hajime nodded. “They’re homophobic, apparently. I wish I knew sooner though…”

“I’m sorry,” Oikawa said sadly.

“It’s alright. I already told them about it and I’m not giving up on trying to get them to understand, even if they probably never will,” Hajime smiled bitterly. “But it’s alright. I won’t even think twice about giving up on you. How about your parents? Do you think they’ll be okay with...”

“Please,” Oikawa rolled his eyes. “You wouldn’t be asking that question if you knew just how much I talk to my mom about you. And my dad will be okay with it, I know he will.”

“I’m glad,” Hajime smiled with relief. ‘At least Oikawa won’t have to deal with parental issues too,’ he thought.

“Hey, have dinner in our place won’t you?” Oikawa grinned. “We could tell Mom about it and everything. She’d probably flip out though.”

“Sure,” Hajime nodded, taking Oikawa’s hand as they started walking. “But you have to be the one to tell her.”

“Alright,” Oikawa agreed. “And uh… can you… do it again?” he stammered, looking down. “The kiss thing? I was a bit nervous during the first one so… can you do it again?” Hajime didn’t need to be told twice. He tilted Oikawa’s chin up with a hand and kissed him again. Oikawa sighed into the kiss and moved a hand up Hajime’s neck, sliding his fingers through his hair. And despite all the hurt that Hajime felt earlier, from the looks his mother gave him to the words his father said, he knew in that very moment as he tasted chocolate and marshmallow on Oikawa’s lips that it was all worth it. Oikawa Tooru was worth it.

 

|Epilogue|

“Um, what about this Doctor poster?” Hajime asked, taking down one of Tooru’s posters from the wall.

“Which Doctor?” Tooru asked from the opposite end of the room where he was sorting the books from his bookshelves into boxes.

“It’s Ten,” Hajime answered.

“Ooh! Keep! No wait, take!”

“Alright.” Hajime rolled the poster up and placed it in the box labeled ‘Take to College.’ “How about this one?” he asked, taking down another poster. “It has Nine on it.”

“Eh, put it in sell,” Tooru made a face.

“Wait, what? How could you sell a poster of Nine?”

“I didn’t really like him that much as a Doctor,” Tooru shrugged, placing a few of his books in the ‘Give away’ box.

“Then why the hell do you have a poster of him on the wall?” Hajime asked.

“I was too lazy to take it down,” Tooru smiled sheepishly. “And the background was cool.”

“Well, I’ll keep it then,” Hajime said, setting the poster aside. He stood back and took another look at the room which was practically empty now. The posters were being taken down. The closet was practically empty. And nearly all of the shelves had no books. Even the glow-in-the-dark stars were gone. Tooru’s mother had joined them earlier in clearing out his bedroom, but as soon as they started packing away his clothes she burst into tears. Tooru had to calm her down by sending her downstairs so it was only him and Hajime clearing his room.

Even he felt a bit sentimental about doing it. He practically grew up in this very room as well. But then again, his own room was going to look the same in a few weeks. Only without his mother or father there to help him. After what happened at the Cultural Festival, there had been some sort of barrier between them. They still treated him as their son, but the love and affection that had been there before wasn’t quite there now. Thankfully, Tooru was there for him to fill up the empty spaces. And his parents treated him like family as well.

The few months after the Cultural Festival had been quite a blur once cram school, studying for finals, and college entrance tests came into the picture. He, Tooru, Matsukawa, and Hanamaki found themselves in the library quite often to study. Sometimes Natsumi and Shirokawa joined in as well, which was a blessing since they had a one-is-to-one instructor to student study sessions. Hajime found himself passing the top school he wanted, Waseda University. Matsukawa and Hanamaki were joining him there too. Natsumi and Shirokawa both got into Tokyo University, on scholarship since neither of them wanted to rely on their parents any longer. Hajime wished them the best of luck on their graduation. Hanamaki’s bet wasn’t forgotten though. Both Hajime and Tooru decided to give in and pay for Hanamaki and Matsukawa’s fancy restaurant date.

“Okay that’s done,” Tooru said, stretching his arms a bit after he finished sorting the last of his books.

“Can we take a break first?” Hajime asked, walking towards him and resting his head on Tooru’s shoulder.

“Sure we can. I’m tired too,” he smiled. “Here, I wanted to give you this.” Hajime watched him curiously as Tooru got the shoebox resting on his desk and handing it to him. He opened the lid and looked inside.

“You glow-in-the-dark stars?” he asked, looking up at him.

“Yeah, that’s half of them anyway. The other half’s with me,” Oikawa smiled at him. “I thought you could post them on the ceiling of your apartment room when you leave for college and I’ll post them in my ceiling. That way, we’ll be looking at the same stars before we sleep.”

“Geez, you’re such a sap, Tooru,” Hajime shook his head but smiled nonetheless before tucking the box under his arm.

“I was also wondering if you can keep this.” Tooru bent down and lifted one of the boxes on the floor. Inside, Hajime could see the dismantled part of his telescope.

“You want me to keep this?” he asked.

“Yeah, I don’t think I’ll be able to take it with me…” Tooru bit his lip and looked down. “You know, I could still take a gap year and go to America—“

“No, we’ve been through this already. If you go later, you’ll miss the special conference. You were invited personally for that,” Hajime said in a strict tone.

“But I mean it’s not _that_ important,” Tooru chuckled.

“Tooru, I swear to God, if you don’t leave by next week I’ll send you there in a box with holes in it.”

“Alright, alright!” Tooru surrendered. “It’s just that… I’ll really miss you and everything. I mean, it’s the first time we’ve been apart and don’t you think we’re a bit too far apart?”

“Do you know what ‘too far apart’ means to me?” Hajime asked. “It means not being able to have met you at all. We’ll be fine, Tooru. I won’t go away, you know that.”

“Yeah, I do…” Tooru nodded and gave Hajime a small smile. “Missing you is just the problem.”

“I know,” Hajime said. “But I’ll Skype you, okay? And we’ll call each other and everything. Also you have to be here for Christmas and New Year’s.”

“I sure will, Hajime,” Tooru smiled. Hajime kissed him gently.

“We’ll be alright, you know we will.”

“I do,” Tooru said. “Can you keep the telescope?”

“Why not? It’s pretty awesome,” Hajime shrugged and took it from him.

“Maybe you’ll pick up my hobbies,” Tooru teased. “Space looks really wonderful through that telescope. Keep an eye out on the UFO’s for me, will you?”

“I will,” Hajime nodded smiling at Tooru. But he knew that all the wonders of space: the planets, the stars, the moon, and maybe even the UFO’s, could never match the person right in front of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GAY LOVE WINS IN THE END!!
> 
> I tried to tie up all the loose ends as much as possible (especially the matsuhana and aikao ships). I didn't really insert that much kyouhaba though but it's a pretty minor ship in this fic. So after the epilogues are done I'm going to start a new fic and I hope you guys like it too (*whispers* it's kurotsukki).


	11. Epilogue: Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was definitely one of those times. He wasn’t even doing anything, just standing there and looking at Tooru with wide eyes. “Tooru…” he said softly as the corners of his mouth began to turn up in a smile. Tooru swallowed. Wasn’t this the part when one of them was supposed to rush forward and hug the other tightly in their arms? Weren’t they supposed to kiss at this moment in the middle of everyone else in the crowd? Tooru felt a bit embarrassed to do that which left the first option. ‘So, will I do the ‘rushing forward’ or will Hajime? How do people do this thing in movies?’ he wondered frantically. His thoughts were interrupted when Hajime suddenly burst into laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys so this is part one of the epilogue which and it's just filled with iwaoi fluff and cuddles and there will be more in the next chapter :)

Tooru stood among the crowd of people in the airport, all of them rushing to meet their loved ones with bags in tow and jackets folded over their arms. Beside him, a father opened his arms out to embrace his daughter and wife. He gripped the handle of his blue trolley bag tightly in his hand and began to walk through the crowd, looking for the person who was supposed to meet him.

‘Maybe he’s just a bit late,’ Tooru thought, pulling out his phone again and sighing when he realized that he couldn’t text in a different country yet. He kept walking instead, quickly scanning the crowds for the familiar face until finally, he found him.

Tooru hadn’t seen Hajime in months, unless you counted in the times when they video-chatted on Skype once every few weeks. Tooru eventually had to ask him if they could stop since it bothered him to be able to see Hajime and not be able to touch him. So they pretty much settled on just plain, old messaging online from then on. Which was why seeing him standing right in front of him at that very moment in the crowded airport made Tooru wonder if it was all real.

Hajime looked a lot more tired and even slightly older now. There were hints of dark circles under his eyes and some early signs of a beard beginning to show. But he was still Hajime, _his_ Hajime. Sometimes Tooru forgot that. Forgot that Hajime had chosen him to love on that day when they first kissed. Everything seemed like a dream to him but there were times when Hajime would just pull him back into reality.

This was definitely one of those times. He wasn’t even doing anything, just standing there and looking at Tooru with wide eyes. “Tooru…” he said softly as the corners of his mouth began to turn up in a smile. Tooru swallowed. Wasn’t this the part when one of them was supposed to rush forward and hug the other tightly in their arms? Weren’t they supposed to kiss at this moment in the middle of everyone else in the crowd? Tooru felt a bit embarrassed to do that which left the first option. ‘So, will I do the ‘rushing forward’ or will Hajime? How do people do this thing in movies?’ he wondered frantically. His thoughts were interrupted when Hajime suddenly burst into laughter.

“What the hell are you thinking about, idiot?” he asked.

“N-nothing. I-It’s just nice to see you, that’s all…” Tooru stammered, feeling a flush growing on his face.

“Shut up. I can read you like an open book,” Hajime smirked.

“I-I was just wondering if you know… we were going to do something when we finally see each other… Like in the movies…” Tooru looked down shyly, twiddling his fingers together.

“This isn’t a fucking movie, Tooru.” Hajime smiled and shook his head. He walked forward and embraced Tooru tightly. “But is this okay, though? It’s not that dramatic or anything since it’s coming from me. You’re the real drama queen.” Hajime’s face was buried against his shoulder and collarbone and his arms were pressed against his lower back. Tooru felt like crying right there and then but stopped himself since Hajime would only tease him even more about being a drama queen. But it just felt so right and so warm and so _real._ The contents of his imagination didn’t even come close to this.

Sighing contentedly, he pressed his face against the crook of Hajime’s neck and wrapped his arms around him, trying to pull him even closer. “This is alright…” he whispered. “This is more than alright…”

“You’re a lot thinner now Tooru, what have you been doing to yourself anyway?” Hajime muttered crossly, pulling away slightly from the embrace.

“Believe me, I’ve tried to balance everything as much as possible. But, you know…”

“Yeah, I know,” Hajime nodded. “Well, you’ll have a lot of explaining to do when Auntie sees you. She’ll probably cook a whole feast just for you.”

“Man, I miss Mom’s cooking,” Tooru sighed.

“Do you have any other bags with you?” Hajime asked, pointing at the blue trolley bag that Tooru had. Other than that, Tooru also had a backpack that he brought with him.

“Nope, just this,” he shook his head.

“Well we better get going then. You need to rest. Don’t you have airplane lag or something?”

“It’s called jet lag,” Tooru corrected. “And you’re right. I do need sleep,” he yawned.

“My apartment’s not far. We’ll take a cab.” Hajime took the handle of his trolley bag and they began walking with the crowd towards the exit of the airport.

“I can pull it,” Tooru muttered, reaching for the handle of his bag but Hajime moved it to his other hand, away from him.

“I’ll take it,” Hajime pressed and Tooru let him.

…

One taxi ride later, the two of them had reached Hajime’s small apartment near the college campus. The living room and kitchen area were quite spacious and there were three other rooms: two bedrooms and one bathroom. The living room had a kotatsu in it which Tooru promptly snuggled under once he entered.

“Ahhh… I think this is what I missed the most…” he sighed, pressing his cheek against the table.

“More than me?” Hajime joked, dragging his trolley bag and backpack to the room he owned.

“Of course I missed you too,” Tooru said. “But we messaged each other a lot when I was in America. It was kind of like having a virtual Hajime. But you can’t make a virtual kotatsu though.”

“True,” Hajime nodded and sat down on the kotatsu in front of him.

“Makki and Mattsun share this with you, right?” he asked.

“Yeah. It’s nice having a big space and everything but being with those two together… god…” Hajime rolled his eyes to show his point.

“Aw… poor Iwa-chan,” Tooru giggled, patting him on the head. “Having to put up with Makki and Mattsun’s PDA for months.”

“I know,” Hajime groaned. “Thank god they’re gone on an event in Tokyo right now.”

“You deserve your break,” Tooru nodded. “Rest now, child…”

“You need to rest too,” Hajime pointed out. “My room’s that way,” he said, pointing to the one in the middle.

“Ooh, are we sharing a room now?” Tooru winked.

“Well of course, we’re a couple aren’t we?” Hajime looked away and flushed. “Hanamaki and Matsukawa do it too. We don’t have to share a bed either… I can bring out a futon,” he mumbled.

“I was teasing, Iwa-chan,” Tooru smiled. He stood up and stretched. “Well, I’ll be going ahead then.”

“I’ll follow after. I haven’t showered since last night.”

“Okay then,” Tooru said before walking in Hajime’s room. Inside, he saw that it was pretty sizeable too. Big enough for a bed against the wall, a desk next to it, and a small bookshelf and closet against the other wall. But what caught Tooru’s eye were the all-too familiar black and silver colors of his telescope, fully assembled and stationed right in front of the window.

‘He really did do it…’ he thought, smiling down at the telescope and running a hand gently over it, feeling the familiar knobs and gears. It was all set-up correctly with not a piece out of place. Tooru smiled and shook his head before sitting down on Hajime’s bed, taking in the sight of the room. On the wall next to the bed were a few of Tooru’s Doctor Who posters which he kept. His desk was littered with notes written in Hajime’s familiar, messy, large handwriting. He had textbooks in his shelf on Chemistry, Anatomy, and a few physical work-out books. Hajime chose to major in Health and Fitness, which practically suited him.

Rooms showed a lot of a person’s personality. Tooru’s own dorm room in his campus was pretty much neat and tidy except for his desk which was usually covered with his laptop and papers, and his bookshelf that was crammed with books either lying down or standing up. On the wall next to his bed, he hung a few of his favorite Doctor Who and alien movie posters.

He remembered the day when he first saw Hajime’s room back when they were kids. The first thing that caught his eye was the large glass tank in the room that was filled with crawling beetles. Tooru remembered letting out a small shriek of surprise before Hajime quickly threw a blanket over it to cover the sight. But other than the beetle tank which showed his obvious obsession with insects, Hajime’s room was almost exactly like he imagined. Slightly messy with some jackets tossed here and there. An open chest shoved against a wall was full of toys, butterfly nets, and empty jars, no doubt for the purpose of catching even more insects. 

“Hey, your mom called earlier,” Hajime said, walking into the room. He had changed into grey sweatpants and a dark green sweatshirt. “I said you were okay and she said that she’ll call later too.”

“You really did set it up,” Tooru smiled, gesturing at the telescope near the window. Hajime looked up at it and smiled as well.

“It took more than half a day,” he said, plopping on the bed next to Tooru. “I even had to call your dad and everything.”

“Thank you. It looks perfect,” Tooru smiled, leaning on Hajime’s shoulder. He smelled soap and minty shampoo. His hair was still wet from the shower.

 “I’m glad you liked it,” Hajime murmured softly. “You know what else I kept?”

“The… Doctor Who posters?” Tooru guessed, sitting up.

“Yeah, that too but also something else.” Hajime tilted Tooru’s chin to look up and he did. On the ceiling were the glow-in-the-dark stars that he remembered giving Hajime on the day they were clearing out his room.

“You really kept those too,” Tooru chuckled. “Maybe I should have asked you to keep a dog for me too while I was at it,” he joked.

“Nope. I draw the line at dogs,” Hajime shook his head. He reached a hand up and rested it on Tooru’s neck, his fingers drawing circles on his cheek. Tooru closed his eyes and leaned against the hand.

“Did you put yours up too? The stars?” Hajime asked softly.

“Of course I did,” Tooru murmured. He opened his eyes and met Hajime’s before leaning closer and pressing a kiss against his lips. Hajime sighed softly before opening up his mouth a little more, dragging his tongue quickly against his lower lip. Tooru melted, closing eyes as Hajime pushed him back gently on the bed.

Hajime’s hands lightly cupped his face before moving down, tracing out his collarbone. Tooru angled his face a bit to deepen the kiss as his own hands slid up the back of Hajime’s head, feeling the dampness of his hair. When they parted, Tooru opened his eyes to look up at Hajime. ‘This is my whole world right here,’ he thought as he felt Hajime’s thumb gently running over his lips. ‘My whole world and so much more…’

“God, I missed you Tooru,” Hajime sighed and pressed his face against the crook in Tooru’s neck. It seemed to be his favorite place since whenever they hugged or cuddled, Hajime’s head always found its way there. Tooru turned to lie down on his side and Hajime did the same, still keeping his head in the same spot.

“I missed you too, Hajime…” Tooru whispered softly, wrapping his arms around Hajime’s lower back. For a while, the two of them lay together in silence. Tooru felt Hajime’s running through his unwashed hair, down his neck, and further down until they landed on his lower back, drawing small circles against the fabric of his sweater. Tooru loved Hajime’s hands. On court, they were strong weapons that slammed volleyball after volleyball over the net countless of times. Sometimes, Tooru found himself staring at them even during games and feeling a rush of happiness whenever his fingers met the ball he tossed. But those strong hands were capable of being soft and gentle as well as they ran over the planes of Tooru’s face, his neck and collarbones, his shoulders, arms, and back. Even when they were holding hands together. ‘Now I see where the Beatles were getting at,’ Tooru thought, remembering the song ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ that his American, college roommate made him listen to.

“You’re making me sleepy…” Hajime mumbled against his neck.

“Why? Don’t tell me you’re bored of me already,” Tooru chuckled softly.

“I’ll never get bored of you,” Hajime said, pulling back to look Tooru in the eye. “You’re too stupid to not catch my attention.”

“Mean Iwa-chan,” Tooru mock-pouted.

“Hey, you better get some sleep already. I thought maybe we could go out for dinner later.”

“Sounds good,” Tooru yawned and snuggled into the pillow under his head. “But I’ll probably stay up late tonight.”

“I’ll stay up with you,” Hajime said. “I feel like sleeping now too.”

“We’re sleeping under the stars…” Tooru sang softly.

“Yeah, we’re sleeping under the same stars,” Hajime smiled. The two of them cuddled up together and fell asleep not only under the same stars, but in each other’s arms.

…

“Mom, hello? It’s me,” Tooru said, clutching Hajime’s cellphone with one hand and toweling his wet hair with the other.

“ _Tooru-chan?_ ” came her reply on the phone. The two of them sometimes called each other while Tooru was in the US but the signal was usually grainy and distorted. It felt better to hear her voice loud and clear.

“Yeah. I made it back okay. The flight wasn’t delayed or anything,” Tooru said.

“ _That’s good. So you’re at Hajime’s place right now?_ ”

“Yeah. We fell asleep for a while actually since I was all jetlagged and everything. We’re about to go out to dinner now.” Hajime was seated on the bed beside him, lacing up his white sneakers. After showering, Tooru had changed into a fresh pair of jeans, a white button-up shirt, and a dark blue sweater on top.

“ _That’s nice dear. I’m glad he’s taking care of you…”_

“Hey, I’ll be in the living room. Do you need an extra coat?” Hajime asked, standing by the open door of his room. Tooru smiled and nodded at him.

“Yeah, he is taking good care of me,” he said into the phone once Hajime left.

“ _Well that’s nice to hear,_ ” his mother said. From the tone of her voice, Tooru could tell that she was smiling.

“How’s Dad?” he asked.

“ _Stressed from grading papers,_ ” his mother chuckled. “ _Would you like to talk to him?_ ”

“Sure, if it’s not too much trouble.” Tooru heard the sound of the phone being passed and then his father’s voice.

“ _Hey Tooru. How are you?_ ” he said.

“Dad, I’m fine,” Tooru grinned at the familiar sound of his father’s voice.

“ _I hope your professors aren’t giving you too much trouble. How’s college?_ ”

“It’s great. Except for the fact that I have to speak English most of the time,” Tooru laughed. His father chuckled over the phone as well.

“ _Well, you’ve earned a well-deserved break. What would you like to eat when you get home?_ ”

“Hmm…” Tooru looked up at the star-covered ceiling as he thought about it. Even though his mother did most of the cooking at home, which she did very well, his father’s food was on an entirely different level as well.

“Your winter hotpot I guess,” Tooru said.

“ _Winter hotpot it is then._ ”

“Thanks Dad. I can’t wait to get home.”

“ _Your mother and I can’t wait to see you either._ ”

“Well, I better go already. Hajime’s waiting for me and those papers aren’t going to grade themselves.”

“ _Thanks for reminding me…_ ” his father said sullenly.

“See you soon. Bye Dad.”

“ _Bye Tooru._ ” The line disconnected and Tooru stood up to leave the room. Hajime was waiting in the living room under the kotatsu.

“It looks like you love the kotatsu more than you love me, Iwa-chan,” Tooru teased as he handed his phone back to him.

“There’s not much of a contest really,” Hajime said. “Since this kotatsu doesn’t have a big, fat mouth.”

“Mean Iwa-chan!” Tooru mock-pouted. “Fine. I’ll have dinner by myself while you make-out with the kotatsu.”

“God no,” Hajime made a face and immediately stood up. “Did you really have to put it that way?”

“How else was I gonna separate you two?” Tooru smiled innocently and shrugged.

“Fine, let’s just go already.” Hajime handed him a light brown coat and put on a black one.

“Thanks Iwa-chan,” Tooru said cheerily as he put on the coat. The ramen restaurant that Hajime brought him to was quite near the campus. He could tell that he was also a regular customer there since the chef behind the counter seemed to know him.

“Your usual again, Iwaizumi?” he asked.

“That’s right,” Hajime grinned back at him.

“Your usual?” Tooru asked, looking at him from the menu.

“The beef yakiniku ramen. I’d recommend the seafood one for you though. It’s really spicy,” Hajime said.

“Nice! I’ll have that then,” Tooru told the chef.

“One seafood and one yakiniku coming up,” he said, pulling some ramen noodles out of a big pot of water. “Iwaizumi usually comes here with his two other friends, Matsukawa and Hanamaki. Are you another friend?” the chef asked, pointing one of his ladles in Tooru’s direction.

“He’s my boyfriend, actually,” Hajime explained.

“Yup!” Tooru nodded. “I came over from the US.”

“The US, huh?” the chef whistled as he stirred a pot of something that smelled very, very good.

“I haven’t had real ramen in such a long time,” Tooru told Hajime.

“Suzuya-san makes the best ramen here,” Hajime said. “By the way, what time do you want to head to Miyagi tomorrow?”

“Mmmm… we’ll be sleeping late tonight for sure… so we should probably head over after lunch or something? Then we’ll be just in time for dinner,” Tooru said. “I asked Dad if he could make hotpot.”

“Awesome, I haven’t eaten that in ages,” Hajime grinned.

“Are you… going to be visiting your parents too?” Tooru asked slowly. After getting accepted into a university, Hajime left Miyagi and so far, he hasn’t returned to pay a visit. It didn’t seem like they were on such good terms either ever since Hajime came out to them. It saddened Tooru to know that they probably wouldn’t want to see him either, even though his parents were practically second family too him. But it was even sadder knowing that their affection for their own son now lacked just because he was gay. Hajime was the one who had to make a sacrifice, choosing him over his parents. And Tooru desperately wanted to make that sacrifice worth it.

“I might pop in for a short while, see how they’re doing,” Hajime shrugged, looking down at the table. “I’ll mostly be staying at your place though…” Tooru reached for his hand.

“That’s alright,” he said softly. “I could be there for you… if you want.”

“Thanks, but I don’t think that’s such a good idea…” Hajime said, squeezing Tooru’s hand.

“Okay,” Tooru nodded.

“Two ramens, coming up,” Chef Suzuya said, placing the steaming bowls in front of them. Tooru looked down at his bowl. The sight of the reddish orange broth, the noodles, and the seafood on top combined with the smell of everything made his mouth water.

“Thank you for the food,” Hajime and Tooru chorused before digging into the ramen. The first thing that Tooru tasted was the spiciness of the broth, then the saltiness, then the seafood flavor.

“Mmmm…”

“I’ve heard that sound pretty often,” Chef Suzuya chuckled. Tooru looked up at him and grinned.

“Now I really regret having to study in the US,” he joked. “Can we eat her tomorrow for breakfast, Iwa-chan?”

“Ramen for breakfast?” Hajime frowned.

“Well, if I add a fried egg on top it can seem more like breakfast,” Chef Suzuya shrugged.

“Besides, it’ll be more like brunch since we might wake up late anyway,” Tooru added.

“I don’t see why not then,” Hajime said, taking another sip of his broth.

“Well, if it isn’t Iwaizumi Hajime and Oikawa Tooru,” said a voice behind them. Hajime wheeled around while Tooru looked over his shoulder. To his surprise, he saw Shirokawa and Natsumi standing behind them. Natsumi had a broad grin on her face while Shirokawa was flushed from the cold.

“Natsumi! Shirokawa!” Hajime grinned. “What brings you here?”

“We’re seeing our friends,” Natsumi explained before turning to Tooru. “And I see you’re back from America too.”

“Yeah, just this afternoon actually,” he said. He remembered being jealous of Natsumi for a time when she and Hajime were dating. But after they broke up and he learned that Natsumi was gay, he decided to make an effort to be friends with her. She and Shirokawa sometimes joined in on their group with Hanamaki and Matsukawa. Tooru actually found himself identifying more with the usually quiet and smart Shirokawa. She was actually a fan of Doctor Who as well and even introduce him to Sherlock which Tooru loved immensely. It had murder, crime-solving, a gay couple, and hot British men. What’s not to like?

“Nice to see you too, Oikawa-san,” Shirokawa bowed.

“You too, Ai-chan,” Tooru grinned. “Won’t you guys join us for ramen?”

“We just ate actually,” Natsumi apologized. “Hey, what are you guys doing for New Year?”

“We’ll just be in my parents’ house,” Tooru said. “In Miyagi.”

“We’ll be in Miyagi too,” Shirokawa said.

“Want to visit the shrine together?” Natsumi added.

“Sure, that sounds good,” Hajime nodded. “Maybe I could invite Matsukawa and Hanamaki too,” he said, pulling out his phone to text them.

“The more the merrier,” Tooru said, hooking his chin over Hajime’s shoulder to read the message he was sending.

“Well, we’ll be off then. See you there,” Shirokawa waved.

“Nice to see you!” Natsumi added before finally leaving with Shirokawa beside her.

“Those two are a really good couple,” Tooru said wistfully, turning back to his ramen.

“Yeah,” Hajime nodded, putting his phone back into his pocket. “Too bad their parents still don’t like it.”

“But they’re still together,” Tooru pointed out. “And that’s what counts the most.” Hajime reached out and held his hand. Tooru wove their fingers together and continued to eat his ramen.


	12. Epilogue Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “That would be nice,” Tooru hummed. Beside him, Hajime was staring up at the sky and stars, seemingly deep in thought. The only light source near them came from the street lamp situated near their house. Tooru wanted to pretend it was moonlight, it seemed more magical. Especially when it illuminated Hajime’s features. Tooru always thought that love and beauty went hand in hand, especially when it came to people. If you loved someone just enough, you began to perceive them as beautiful. And right now, at this moment, Tooru thought that Hajime was very beautiful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! The last chapter of Read between the Lines!! Sorry for taking so long but it's just really so hard to say goodbye to a fic once you've finished writing it. I just want to say that *takes a deep breath and tries not to cry* you guys are amazing and thank you so much for all your comments and kudos. Thank you for taking the time to stick with me until the end of this fic and for all the kind comments that I will be reading again and again in the future. *sniffs and blows nose*. This is honestly the best fic I've ever written so far and I'm just really happy that people liked it. So again, thank you all so much.
> 
> Also, I've already posted the first chapter to my newest fic [Fast Car](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7589455) so if you're into kurotsukki, go ahead and read it.
> 
> And the IwaOi doesn't just end here. I have a one-shot collection called [Bundled Up Together](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6550429) and you can check it out for more IwaOi.
> 
> And so, here it is. The last chapter of Read between the Lines...

“Ah, good old Miyagi,” Tooru sighed, taking in a deep breath as he and Hajime stepped off the bus.

“You can say that again,” Hajime nodded and took a look around. “I wonder if anything has changed.”

“Maybe not much. We’ve only been gone for like half a year or something,” Tooru said. “Hey, maybe we can drop by Seijoh while we’re here. You know, to check up on all our cute juniors. I hope Shigeru-chan’s leading the team well.”

“I wonder what’s happened to him and Kyoutani,” Hajime muttered.

“That’s true!” Tooru laughed thumping him on the back. “I bet Kyoken-chan would be happy to see that his master has returned.”

“It’s probably still break for them though. But they might be doing a bit of practice,” Hajime said as the two of them began walking from the bus stop.

“Hmmm… I wonder how Karasuno is as well…” Tooru said, looking up. “Maybe we could drop by on them too, to see if the team and Tobio-chan are suffering without their precious ‘Daichi-san’ and ‘Mr. Refreshing’ to guide them.” He grinned evilly.

“God, you’re such an idiot,” Hajime rolled his eyes, chopping Tooru in the back of the head. “They’re probably doing just fine without you having to terrorize them. But first things first though, we’ve got to get you home.”

“Yeah, yeah Iwa-chan. You’re such a mom.”

“That’s because you’re such a child.” The two of them slid into their normal bickering habit which Tooru enjoyed immensely. Bickering with Hajime online was different, it wasn’t as fun as when they were together. Especially when Hajime would smack him in the back of the head. ‘Wait, does that mean I’m some weird masochist or something?’ Tooru thought worriedly.

“We’re here,” Hajime suddenly said, stopping in front of a house. It was still the same house that Tooru grew up in. Same fence, same yard full of grass, same steps in front of the same red door. He remembered sitting on those very steps all day when he was waiting for Hajime on their first sleepover. There were so many memories in this house and Tooru felt a wave of nostalgia that made him want to tear up.

“Hey, you better not start crying,” Hajime said gruffly beside him.

“I guess I really am the drama queen in this relationship,” Tooru laughed. “It’s just that, I was thinking about all the memories we’ve had in this house. I remember hating it the first time we moved here but, I guess I’ve really missed it while I was away.” He felt Hajime’s arm wrap around his shoulder.

“I hope the treehouse is still there,” he said softly.

“I hope the treehouse is still there,” Tooru agreed. Together, they walked hand in hand up to the front door and Tooru knocked.

“Coming!” a voice said from inside the house which was soon followed by the sound of footsteps before the door finally opened.

“Hi Mom!” Tooru beamed. His mother stood still in the doorway for a few moments. She was wearing a lavender housedress with a white apron on top. Her brown hair was tied behind in a low ponytail. Her eyes scanned the sight of Hajime and Tooru standing right in front of her. Without waiting for her to say anything else, Tooru stepped forward and wrapped her up in a hug.

“Tooru… You’re here,” she finally spoke, wrapping her arms around him.

“I am Mom. I missed you,” Tooru said, squeezing her tighter. As always, she smelled like coffee and baked goods. He remembered when he only came up to his mother’s waist and would bury his face in her apron when he hugged her. But now, he was the one who towered over her.

“Your Dad and I have missed you too,” she said, pulling away to look at him. She ran a hand through his hair. “Your hair is longer. And you’re much thinner now. Have you been eating?”

“I’ve been trying to for as much as possible,” Tooru smiled sheepishly. “I really miss your cooking though.”

“And Hajime’s here too,” his mother smiled, turning to Hajime beside him.

“It’s good to be back Auntie. Thanks for having me,” he bowed.

“You’re always welcome here, dear,” his mother smiled and hugged Hajime as well. “You need to eat too,” she said after pulling away. “Come in already. It’s cold outside.” Hajime and Tooru walked inside the house, leaving their shoes by the door.

“Lunch is almost ready,” his mother called from the kitchen. “And I already set up two futons in your room.”

“Thanks Mom,” Tooru called back as he walked towards the stairs. “Is Dad here?”

“Yes. He’s in his study. Tell him that lunch is ready too.”

“Okay.” Tooru began climbing up the stairs and into his room with Hajime trailing behind him.

“It’s as empty as before…” Hajime observed once the two of them walked inside. Tooru silently agreed with him. The walls were bare and the shelves by the wall were empty as well. At least a few of his clothes were still in the closet and the TV was still plugged to the wall. Two futons were already set up and waiting on the floor.

“I’ll just go see my dad for a second,” Tooru said, placing his things near the closet. Hajime nodded and began to change out of his coat. Tooru padded down the hallway to his father’s study. As a child, he was taught to always knock before entering since his father sometimes practiced his own lectures by himself. Tooru stuck to his old habit and raised a hand to knock on the door.

“Enter,” came the sound of his father’s voice from inside. Tooru opened the door.

“Dad? I’m back.” His father had kept a huge desk in the middle of his room which was always covered with books, papers, and mugs of tea or coffee. Behind him was a large whiteboard. His father taught History at a nearby university and Tooru was used to seeing a bunch of dates and events scribbled on the whiteboard. Now, the words ‘Scientific Revolution’ were written in large, black letters. His father was seated at his desk, a red pen in one hand and a stack of papers by his side. When he heard Tooru come in, he abruptly looked up from his work.

“Tooru?” he said, putting on his glasses. Tooru smiled at him.

“Yeah, it’s me, Dad,” he said, walking closer. His father smiled at him and stood up to embrace his son.

“I thought you’d be coming on the twenty-second.”

“Dad, it is the twenty-second,” Tooru chuckled, breaking away from the hug.

“Really? Wow, time really does fly when you’re grading papers,” his father shook his head and laughed.

“Maybe you should take a break first. Mom said it’s time for lunch.”

“Well, I only have to grade two more papers after,” he said. “Is Iwaizumi here?”

“Yeah, Mom was really happy to see him.”

“How is he with his… you know…”

“Parents?” Tooru finished. “He told me that they still haven’t quite accepted him yet. But he’s planning to visit them while he’s still here.”

“That’s good. I hope it goes well for them,” his father said.

“Tooru! Kousuke! It’s time for lunch!” he heard their mother call from downstairs.

“You heard her,” his father chuckled, wrapping an arm around his son as the two of them made their way out of his study and down the stairs.

“It smells like sukiyaki,” Tooru observed, sniffing the air.

“It sure does,” his father agreed. “I’ll be making hotpot later too. To celebrate you and Hajime coming home.”

“Alright!” Tooru cheered. “Thanks Dad!”

…

“Thanks for the meal!” Tooru grinned, placing his chopsticks neatly over his now-empty bowl. His stomach was full of spicy broth, seafood, and mushrooms from the hotpot his father cooked. “It tastes better than I remembered.”

“Glad to hear it,” his father smiled at him from across the table. “How is the spice for you Hajime? Too much?” Hajime was seated right beside Tooru, still trying to finish his bowl of the hotpot broth while eating a ton of rice to remove the spiciness. Beads of sweat covered his forehead.

“I-It’s great! Not too spicy at all,” he said, smiling weakly at the two of them.

“More water, Hajime-chan?” his mother asked, pouring water into his glass.

“Thank you Auntie,” Hajime said before quickly downing the glass and then finishing up the last of his broth in one gulp.

“Yay! You survived Iwa-chan!” Tooru cheered.

“How are you even able to eat this?” Hajime whispered just loud enough for his father not to hear.

“I’ve been trained all my life to do this.”

“Yeah right.”

“That was a good meal, dear,” his mother said, smiling at her husband as she began stacking the bowls together.

“Do you need help with that Auntie?” Hajime asked.

“No, I’m alright. Thank you for asking,” his mother said.

“Hey, do you want to check out the treehouse again?” Tooru asked.

“I think it’s still there,” his father said. “But aren’t you too old to use it?”

“No way Dad,” Tooru laughed, standing up and pulling Hajime up with him.

“Well you two have fun then,” his father chuckled. “I’ll be taking a bath.”

“Alright,” Tooru nodded. “I’ll go after.”

“Hey,” Hajime said. “Are we really—“

“Yes Iwa-chan.” Tooru held onto his arm and the two of them went out the back door. He was surprised at how cold the night was after all and shivered slightly in the wind.

“Do you want to head back inside?” Hajime asked, noticing how cold Tooru was.

“No, I’m alright,” he shook his head and started walking when he suddenly felt Hajime’s hand on his back.

“Here, wear this at least.” Hajime took off his jacket and draped it across Tooru’s shoulders.

“Thank you Iwa-chan,” he smiled. The two of them headed to the tree in the backyard and Tooru began climbing it up first, feeling the familiar trunk of the tree under his fingertips as his feet searched for a foothold. Hajime followed behind him afterward and the two of them sat by the edge of the treehouse with their legs dangling over the side. A gust of wind blew and Tooru felt Hajime shiver a little beside him.

“Here… let’s share it.” Tooru sat closer to him and draped half of Hajime’s jacket over his shoulder.

“This doesn’t really protect us from the cold, you know?” Hajime said.

“Yeah… but it’s a lot warmer this way isn’t it?” Tooru smiled, leaning his head on his friend’s shoulder. Hajime smiled and held his hand.

“It is.”

“Do you think it will snow soon? I hope it snows in time for New Year’s.”

“Well it’s really cold right now so I bet it will.”

“That would be nice,” Tooru hummed. Beside him, Hajime was staring up at the sky and stars, seemingly deep in thought. The only light source near them came from the street lamp situated near their house. Tooru wanted to pretend it was moonlight, it seemed more magical. Especially when it illuminated Hajime’s features. Tooru always thought that love and beauty went hand in hand, especially when it came to people. If you loved someone just enough, you began to perceive them as beautiful. And right now, at this moment, Tooru thought that Hajime was very beautiful.

“Hey, Hajime…”

“Yeah?”

“Did you know that I fell in love with you when we were in middle school?”

“That early?” Hajime looked down at him in surprise. Tooru grinned.

“Yup! That early.”

“R-really?” Hajime flushed and looked down embarrassedly.

“I think I loved you even before I knew it too. It felt so weird though. I couldn’t stand being near you and everything,” Tooru laughed.

“Is that why you acted a bit weird around me before?” Hajime asked. “Because I really remembered that. When did you… _know_?”

“Well let’s see. We were together doing our homework right here, in this treehouse, and then I decided to go down because well, I was feeling weird near you. But then I almost fell off while going down but you reached your hand out just in time to catch me.” Tooru smiled at the memory.

“I remember that,” Hajime chuckled. “I think my heart almost stopped.”

“Aww… So sweet Iwa-chan,” Tooru gushed. “I could really see how worried you were too. When I looked up at you holding onto my arm, I guess I just _knew._ ”

“Is that so?” Tooru felt Hajime’s thumb drawing circles on the palm of his hand. “Now I feel bad. I only realized I loved you much later on.”

“Really? When?”

“It was… during our play,” Hajime said slowly. “I think I started having these feelings for you a while back though. I was crazy nervous whenever we had to do a scene together as Romeo and Julius. I guess I was too scared to acknowledge the fact that I did have those feelings for you at first because you know…”

“Yeah,” Tooru nodded. ‘Because of your parents.’

“But then I finally _knew_ when we were doing the play. It was during that balcony scene, when Romeo had to leave Julius, and I was holding your hand and looking up at you and then at that very moment I _knew._ And I wasn’t afraid of my parents knowing about it either,” Hajime said.

“That sounds way more romantic than mine,” Tooru said softly.

“God, I know,” Hajime groaned and shook his head.

“What? It’s a good thing,” Tooru nudged his shoulder and chuckled.

“Well, the timing was pretty good. We had a few more months to date before you left.”

“And then I’ll have to leave again,” Tooru sighed.

“It’s only a few more years,” Hajime mumbled. “We have it a lot better than Romeo and Juliet did.”

“God, that’s an entirely different story,” Tooru laughed. “Literally an entirely different story.”

“I know,” Hajime smiled. “But it does make you feel better, doesn’t it.”

“No, not really.”

“Fine,” Hajime huffed. Tooru shook his head and leaned against Hajime’s shoulder again.

“Oh, think’st thou we shall ever meet again?” he said softly. It was a line from Romeo and Juliet. Tooru forgot all of his lines once the play was done, but a few of them here and there still stuck.

“I doubt it not,” Hajime said back, to Tooru’s surprise. “And all these woes shall serve for sweet discourses in our time to come.” Hajime took Tooru’s hand and pressed it to his lips. His lips were soft and warm and just as gentle as his hands and Tooru thought that if that simple gesture could be translated into words, they would be more beautiful than anything Shakespeare’s ever written.

…

“Hey we better hurry up. Hanamaki and Matsukawa are already there and I think Natsumi and Shirokawa are almost there,” Hajime reminded him.

“Alright. I’m just looking for my scarf…” Tooru said as he dug into his bag.

“Better bring a hat too. Matsukawa said that it’s really cold.”

“Yeah. I’m all good.” Tooru pulled out his white beanie and put it on before tying a red scarf around his neck. “Don’t you have a hat, Iwa-chan?”

“My jacket has a hood,” Hajime answered, already halfway through the door.

“Fine then. Let’s go.” Tooru looped his arm around Hajime’s and the two of them made their way downstairs.

“Are you two heading out already?” his mother asked. She was sitting at the table and knitting what appeared to be a scarf. He and Hajime had received matching sweaters from her on Christmas which they were now currently wearing. Tooru’s was dark green while Hajime’s was in dark blue.

“Yeah Mom,” he answered.

“It’s cold outside. Make sure you’ve dressed warmly enough,” his father added, not looking up from the newspaper he was reading.

“We did. Bye Mom! Bye Dad!” Tooru called out before he and Hajime left the house. Outside, the sky was clear and dark with a few stars here and there. Tooru was still clinging on to the hope that there was going to be snow.

“I never thought it could get this cold in Miyagi,” Hajime said, pulling up the hood of his coat.

“You’re right,” Tooru agreed as they walked to the shrine which wasn’t quite far away. At a distance, he was easily able to spot Hanamaki and Matsukawa’s matching black coats. “Makki! Mattsun!” he yelled, waving at them as they walked near.

“What are those two idiots trying to do with their black coats? Scare off children?” Hajime muttered to himself as he followed behind Tooru.

“Ah! Oikawa and Iwaizumi!” Hanamaki grinned and waved at the two of them.

“Happy New Year!” Matsukawa greeted.

“Not yet, it’s still in an hour,” Hanamaki said.

“Then advanced Happy New Year then.”

“How’s America?” Hanamaki asked, turning to Tooru. “Or should I say, how’s the Big Pear?”

“Big Pear?” Hajime frowned.

“Here he goes again,” Matsukawa sighed.

“First of all, it’s called the Big Apple,” Tooru laughed. “And secondly, I’m in California, which is not the Big Apple.”

“Oh…”

“You tried Takahiro,” Matsukawa said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Are we just waiting for Natsumi and Shirokawa?” Tooru asked.

“Nope. They’re here already,” Hajime said pointing behind him. And sure enough, the two girls were there walking towards them.

“Sorry, are we late?” Shirokawa asked.

“Not really, we just arrived here ourselves,” Hajime said.

“Happy New Year everyone!” Natsumi grinned. “Or I guess advanced Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year,” the rest of them chorused.

“Well since we’re all here, shall we get going then?” Hanamaki asked, pointing a thumb behind him.

“We should. Before it gets too crowded,” Matsukawa said as he started walking ahead.

“This is the first time I’ve visited a shrine on New Year before,” Natsumi said as they all started walking behind Hanamaki and Matsukawa.

“Really? Not even as a kid with your family?” Hajime asked.

“Nope.”

“Me either,” Shirokawa added. “I used to try staying up until twelve but I always fell asleep.”

“You sleep too much, Ai,” Natsumi laughed.

“We never really went to visit a shrine together on New Year,” Hajime said, looking at Tooru.

“You’re right. I just visited with Mom and Dad occasionally from time to time. But I mostly just waited for those winter Doctor Who marathons.”

“Same,” Shirokawa agreed.

“I always visited the shrine on New Year. With my parents I mean,” Hajime said, looking down a bit. Tooru reached over and squeezed his hand. Hajime visited his parents two days ago for dinner. His mother seemed to be glad to see him but his father only stuck around for a little while before going to his room. Tooru had really hoped that the Christmas spirit would put him in a better mood. But at least Hajime said that his mother seemed to be more open now about Hajime’s relationship.

“I was always sick during New Year,” Hanamaki said, overhearing their conversation.

“Really?” Natsumi asked in surprise.

“Maybe that’s why you always get bad luck throughout the year, Makki,” Tooru teased.

“Shut up! It has nothing to do with it!” Hanamaki snapped.

“That’s because you always get into snowball fights with your brothers,” Matsukawa said.

“Well did you visit the shrine a lot?” Hajime asked.

“No. I’d rather sleep. It doesn’t really make much of a difference. The new year doesn’t feel that much different from the old year.”

“I agree,” Shirokawa added.

“You guys are boring,” Natsumi mock-pouted.

“We’re here. And just as you said, Mattsun. There are a lot of people,” Tooru observed as he looked through the crowd.

“Should we all line up at the shrine first?” Hajime suggested.

“Ai and I might do that later,” Natsumi said. “It still looks a bit crowded.”

“I want amazake…” Shirokawa said, tugging the sleeve of Natsumi’s coat.

“We’ll visit the shrine first,” Hanamaki said, gesturing to himself and Matsukawa.

“Okay. Ai and I will be by the amazake stand. Want us to get some for you guys already?” Natsumi asked.

“Sure, I’d like some,” Hajime raised his hand.

“Me too! Thanks!” Tooru added.

“We’ll get some after,” Matsukawa said. “Hanamaki wants to look at the fortunes.”

“That might not be a good choice, Makki,” Tooru teased. “Your luck might get even worse.”

“Shut up. Let’s get in line already,” Hanamaki said gruffly and went to line up beside Matsukawa. Hajime and Tooru stood behind them. Despite the large crowd, the four of them got to the shrine pretty quickly. However, Hanamaki and Matsukawa stood in front when it was their turn, bickering over what they were supposed to do.

“Honestly, they’re like an old married couple,” Tooru snickered.

“You bow first and then clap,” Hajime hissed.

“Thanks Iwa!” Hanamaki whispered back. He and Matsukawa finally did it right and then left the line abruptly. When it was their turn, Tooru simply followed Hajime’s lead. He closed his eyes tightly when he prayed. ‘Thank you so much for giving me Hajime, whoever celestial being you are,’ Tooru prayed. ‘And please take care of him while I’m away. Make sure that he eats right and gets enough rest. I hope his parents come to understand someday too. Please take care of Mom and Dad, Dad especially since he’s so tired all the time. Watch over Makki and Mattsun. I hope they don’t get too lovey-dovey in front of Hajime and make him jealous. Watch over Natsumi and Shirokawa too and the team. I hope Shigeru-chan is doing his best and that Kyoken-chan isn’t giving him too much trouble. Thank you for giving Karasuno the chance to kick Ushiwaka and Shiratorizawa’s butt this year. I hope next year you give Seijoh the chance to kick Shiratorizawa’s butt. Or if not, I hope Karasuno does. Lastly, please give Tobio-chan many chances to fail so that he gets off his high horse and learns to suffer.’

“Done?” Hajime asked once Tooru finished his prayer.

“Yeah, let’s get some amazake,” he grinned and the two of them left the shrine. Natsumi and Shirokawa were already by the stand, talking to each other and holding two cups of amazake each.

“Iwaizumi-san! Oikawa-san!” Natsumi smiled when they came up. “Here, I hope it’s still warm,” she said, handing a cup to Hajime. Tooru received his from Shirokawa.

“Ahh… that hits the spot,” Tooru sighed contentedly after taking a sip.

“Yeah…” Hajime agreed.

“You two sound like old men right now, geez,” Natsumi snickered.

“Kaori, you’re the one who said ‘This amazake sure warms up these old joints’ earlier,” Shirokawa deadpanned, taking a sip from her cup.

“Ahhh! Ai! Don’t say that!” Natsumi cried.

“’These old joints?’” Tooru laughed.

“I guess you’re the old man now, Natsumi,” Hajime grinned.

“Hey, we just got our fortunes,” Matsukawa said, appearing beside Hajime. He wore a smirk on his face while Hanamaki, who was walking slowly behind, looked distraught.

“What did you get then?” Hajime asked.

“Excellent Luck,” Matsukawa grinned and held his up.

“Woah, that’s pretty rare,” Hajime said.

“I’m guessing Makki didn’t get a good one,” Tooru said, looking at Hanamaki.

“I got ‘Very Bad Luck,’” his friend said quietly.

“I guess all those years of not going to the shrine in New Year caught up to you,” Natsumi pointed out.

“Then why is it different for Issei?!” Hanamaki cried.

“Maybe it’s a two-sided coin,” Shirokawa suggested. “If you don’t go to the shrine on New Year’s then you’ll either get an extreme amount of luck or very bad luck.”

“It’s not fair,” Hanamaki moaned.

“Want to go to the shrine next?” Natsumi asked. Shirokawa nodded.

“We’re gonna tie our fortunes,” Matsukawa said. “Maybe it will give Takahiro just a little bit more luck.”

“I hope so…” Hanamaki said.

“I guess that just leaves us then,” Hajime said, turning to Tooru. “Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know. I guess we could walk around for a bit,” he shrugged.

“Let’s meet back here in fifteen minutes then,” Natsumi suggested.

“Sounds good,” Matsukawa said.

“See you guys then.”

“See you…”

“I guess it’s just us again, Iwa-chan,” Tooru smiled.

“Yeah, let’s get away from this crowd.” Hajime threw away his cup and together, he and Tooru wove their way through the different people and found themselves walking under a grove of trees.

“A lot sure has happened this year,” Tooru said. “The Inter-High championship, the Cultural Festival, the play, Graduation, College…”

“Don’t forget you and me.”

“Silly, of course I’d never forget that,” Tooru smiled. “Not ever.”

“Hey, look,” Hajime said, pointing at Tooru’s shoulder. Tooru looked down and gasped when he saw it.

“A snowflake!”

“More snowflakes.” Hajime pointed upwards where a thousands more were falling from the sky.

“I knew it! I knew there was going to be snow today,” Tooru grinned, looking up at the sky while trying to catch the falling flakes in his glove-covered hands.

“I’ve always liked this part,” Hajime said, holding out his hands too. “The part when it snows.” Suddenly, the crowd of people behind them near the shrine began to clap and yell.

“Wait, is it New Year’s already?” Tooru asked, frantically pushing back the sleeve of his coat to look at his watch. And sure enough, the time read twelve o’ clock.

“It is,” Hajime said, peering at his watch beside him.

“Is this the part when we kiss?” Tooru asked, looking up at him.

“You go first,” Hajime blushed. And Tooru did. He closed his eyes and brushed his lips against Hajime’s first, almost shyly, before deepening it. Hajime sighed softly against his lips before moving his face to get a better angle. Tooru rested his forehead against Hajime’s when they broke apart. A snowflake had landed on top of Hajime’s cheek, near the bridge of his nose, and Tooru kissed it away.

“I like that you’re the last person I saw last year and the first person I see this year,” Tooru whispered.

“Me too,” Hajime smiled.

“Let’s do this every year, okay?”

“Okay.” Hajime brushed his lips against Tooru’s again. “We’ll do it next year and the year after that and the year after that and the next years after…”

“Hajime…” he breathed out, lifting his hands to rest on both sides of Hajime’s face. “Hajime, I want to make you happy, okay?” he said, pressing their foreheads together and staring deep into his eyes. “I want to make you happy. I want you to feel like every sacrifice you’ve made for me was worth it. And if I can’t I—“

Hajime cut him off by placing another kiss on his lips. “You’ve always made happy, Tooru,” he smiled. “It’s why I fell in love with you after all. That and many, many other reasons.”

“I still won’t stop, though,” Tooru murmured. “I won’t stop. I’ll never stop trying to make you happy.”

“I know,” Hajime smiled and kissed him again. “I know you won’t.”

“Happy New Year, Hajime.”

“Happy New Year, Tooru.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I hope you all like it! If you read enough to be able to read this last message then thank you so much for sticking with me till the end. You can follow me on Tumblr [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/wayward-stranger) and go ahead and message me if you want to fangirl about Haikyuu!! too

**Author's Note:**

> So how was that? Please let me know!!!


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